A federal judge denied former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's bid to dismiss an alienation-of-affection lawsuit brought by the wife of a married bodyguard Sinema admits she slept with, ruling that nine messages sent to the man at his North Carolina home gave the state jurisdiction.
U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon rejected Sinema's argument that she had no meaningful ties to North Carolina and that the affair took place entirely outside the state. The ruling means Heather Ammel, the ex-wife of Sinema's former security guard Matthew Ammel, can press ahead with her claim that the former Arizona senator destroyed her marriage. Heather Ammel is seeking at least $75,000 in damages.
North Carolina is one of only six states that still allow so-called alienation-of-affection lawsuits, a legal tool that lets a spouse sue the person they hold responsible for breaking up their marriage. Sinema's attorneys tried to get the case thrown out on jurisdictional grounds, contending she has no connection to the state. The Hill reported that Judge Bragdon found otherwise, pointing to nine text messages Sinema sent to Matthew Ammel while he was at his family home in North Carolina.
The messages proved decisive. In his written order, Judge Bragdon said they showed Sinema actively building a romantic relationship with a married man, not just when he was traveling with her on work assignments, but when he was home with his wife and family.
Bragdon wrote in the order:
"These messages, considered together, show Ms. Sinema building and furthering a romantic relationship with Mr. Ammel, invading the marriage not just while he was away on trips with her but while he was home with his family in North Carolina."
The messages were sent through the Signal app, Newsmax reported. Phone records showed Matthew Ammel was physically in North Carolina more than 60 percent of the year the affair developed, a detail that further undercut Sinema's claim that the relationship had nothing to do with the state. The judge also found Sinema's testimony that she did not know where Ammel was located when she sent the messages was not credible.
Sinema acknowledged the relationship in a July 31 deposition. Fox News reported that she described the first sexual encounter in detail:
"We were staying at an Airbnb in Napa, California. We were outside. Matt kissed me. We went inside and had sex."
That encounter took place around Memorial Day 2024. Sinema admitted to having a romantic relationship with Matthew Ammel that year. The Ammels separated on Nov. 1, 2024.
Heather Ammel's lawsuit, filed at the end of last year, alleged she had "a good and loving marriage" before Sinema's interference. She argued the former senator's messages to her then-husband "exceeded the bounds of a normal working relationship and were of romantic and lascivious natures." She discovered the affair in early 2024 after reading nine messages Sinema sent to her husband while he was in North Carolina.
The lawsuit contains another striking allegation: Sinema paid for Matthew Ammel's psychedelic treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and traumatic brain injuries resulting from his military deployments. The specific type of treatment and where it was provided were not detailed in the court filings described in the reporting.
That claim adds a layer to the relationship between a sitting U.S. senator and a member of her own security detail. It suggests a degree of personal entanglement that went well beyond employer and employee, and well beyond what Sinema's legal team wanted a North Carolina court to examine.
Sinema, who represented Arizona as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party, did not seek reelection in 2024. Her attorneys argued throughout the motion-to-dismiss proceedings that she lacked ties to North Carolina sufficient for the state to claim jurisdiction. Judge Bragdon disagreed. The case now moves toward discovery and a potential trial.
Alienation-of-affection statutes date back centuries in American law. Most states have abolished them. North Carolina is among the small handful, six in total, that still allow a wronged spouse to hold a third party financially accountable for wrecking a marriage. The causes of action can carry real financial consequences, and they put private conduct squarely into the public record.
For Sinema, the ruling means her admitted affair with a subordinate, a married man on her own payroll, will now be litigated in open court. No amount of jurisdictional maneuvering could keep those nine messages from reaching a courtroom in the same state where they reached Matthew Ammel's phone.
Accountability has a way of following people who thought they left it behind. Sinema left the Senate. She left her party. But a federal judge just told her she cannot leave this lawsuit behind, too.
