Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee who backed the regulatory relief law enacted earlier this year, was declared the winner of the tightly contested Arizona Senate race Monday evening.
Sinema defeated Republican Rep. Martha McSally, a former Air Force pilot. Having crafted a moderate message, Sinema will head to the Senate with banking industry support. She was elected despite the midterm Senate defeats of two key Democratic incumbents who had also supported reg relief, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
The outcome of the race for the seat now occupied by Republican Jeff Flake, who is retiring, came nearly a week after ballots were cast in the state as votes continued to be counted for days.
In addition to supporting the reg relief legislation, Sinema also backed a recent bill introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., which would have eliminated the asset threshold for banks to considered “systemically important financial institutions.”
As of Oct. 16, Sinema received $173,204 from commercial banks, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But McSally also drew backing from the industry. McSally received $25,100 from Wells Fargo’s PACs, individual members, employees, or owners, and immediate families of those individuals — putting her at No. 4 on the bank’s list among candidates running for Senate.
