Gallego Used $18,000 in Campaign Funds for Child Care and Family Trips as 2028 Talk Grows
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jun 21
Gallego Used $18,000 in Campaign Funds for Child Care and Family Trips as 2028 Talk Grows
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jun 21
Summary
Campaign records reviewed by POLITICO show Sen. Ruben Gallego used his campaign committee and leadership PAC for family travel to Miami, Chicago, Disneyland and Disney World, plus more than $18,000 in child-care reimbursements since 2019.
Federal rules allow campaign-funded travel and child care if they are not personal use, and leadership PACs face even looser limits; Gallego did not dispute the spending and said such family travel is permitted by the FEC.
The spending adds scrutiny as Gallego weighs a 2028 presidential bid, recently traveled to South Carolina for Democratic events and hired former Biden aide Andrew Bates for political communications.
That scrutiny is sharpened by Gallego's past joint campaign spending with Eric Swalwell for the 2023 Super Bowl and by an unresolved Senate ethics review that GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna had urged leaders to examine.