Federal judge lets alienation-of-affection lawsuit against Kyrsten Sinema move forward

A federal judge has denied former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s bid to escape a civil lawsuit filed by the ex-wife of her married bodyguard, ruling that North Carolina courts have jurisdiction over the alienation-of-affection claim, and that the case can proceed toward trial.

U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon found that nine messages Sinema sent to her security guard Matthew Ammel while he was at home with his wife and three children in North Carolina were enough to establish the court’s authority over her. Sinema had argued she lacked a meaningful connection to the state. The judge disagreed.

The ruling clears the way for Heather Ammel, Matthew Ammel’s ex-wife, to press her claim that Sinema deliberately interfered with what she described in her complaint as a “good and loving marriage.” North Carolina is one of a handful of states that still recognizes alienation-of-affection suits, which allow a spouse to seek damages from a third party accused of wrecking a marriage.

The affair: Sinema’s own words

Sinema acknowledged the sexual relationship under oath. In a July 31 deposition at a law office in Raleigh, the former senator described the first encounter in plain terms:

“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 testified that additional sexual encounters followed in New York, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona, but never in North Carolina. Her legal team used that geographic argument as the backbone of the motion to dismiss, contending the state had no claim over her conduct.

Judge Bragdon was not persuaded. He found that Sinema knew Ammel lived in North Carolina with his wife and their three children, and that the messages she sent him while he was home showed her “furthering [a romantic relationship]” with Ammel and “invading” his marriage, not just when the two traveled together, but when he was back with his family.

From security detail to Senate staffer

The timeline laid out in court filings traces a relationship that moved fast and left wreckage behind it. Matthew Ammel retired from the U.S. Army and joined Sinema’s security team in 2022. He began traveling with her domestically and internationally.

By Memorial Day weekend 2024, the relationship had turned sexual. That summer, Ammel stopped wearing his wedding ring. He was also given a new job, a position as a national security fellow in Sinema’s Senate office. Newsmax reported that Sinema hired Ammel for that Senate staff role in June 2024, even as he continued working on her security detail.

The dual arrangement meant Ammel was both protecting and romantically involved with a sitting United States senator, while drawing a government paycheck in a policy role she created for him.

Heather Ammel discovered the affair in early 2024 after reading nine messages Sinema had sent to her husband while he was in North Carolina. The couple separated on November 1, 2024. Their divorce was finalized in March 2026.

Nine messages that made the case

The jurisdictional fight hinged on those nine communications. Sinema’s attorneys, Steven Epstein and Abigail Jenkins, argued that the former senator’s contacts with North Carolina were too thin to justify hauling her into court there. She never had sex with Ammel in the state, they contended. She didn’t live there. She didn’t work there.

But Judge Bragdon looked at the messages and reached a different conclusion. The messages showed Sinema reaching into Ammel’s home life, the very marriage Heather Ammel says was destroyed. That was enough.

Court filings detailed by Fox News revealed additional context from Sinema’s communications with Ammel. One message read: “I hope your day was okay. Thinking of you. I am with you. I keep waking up during my sleep and reaching over for your arms to hold me.” Those are not the words of a casual acquaintance. They are the words of someone embedded in another woman’s marriage.

Sinema acknowledged during her deposition that she knew Ammel was married with three children throughout the entirety of the affair.

North Carolina’s alienation-of-affection law

North Carolina remains one of the few states where a wronged spouse can file a civil lawsuit against the person they believe broke up their marriage. The law dates back centuries and has survived repeated legal challenges. Critics call it archaic. Supporters say it provides accountability when a third party deliberately targets a marriage.

Heather Ammel is seeking at least $75,000 in damages, according to Newsmax’s reporting. The case now moves past the motion-to-dismiss stage and toward discovery and potentially trial, meaning more depositions, more documents, and more public exposure of the relationship’s details.

Sinema’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

What the ruling means

The denial of the motion to dismiss does not mean Sinema has been found liable. It means the court has decided the case has enough legal footing to continue. Heather Ammel still bears the burden of proving that Sinema’s conduct caused the destruction of her marriage.

But the facts already on the record are not in dispute. Sinema admitted the affair. She admitted she knew Ammel was married. She admitted to sexual encounters spanning multiple states over the course of months. The judge found that her messages reached into the Ammel family home in North Carolina and furthered a relationship that was, by her own account, ongoing and intimate.

The open questions are significant. The exact contents of all nine messages have not been made public. The total damages Heather Ammel will seek at trial remain unclear. And Matthew Ammel’s own role, whether he has made statements in the proceedings, and what they say, is not yet part of the public record.

What is clear is that a former United States senator now faces a civil trial over conduct that took place while she held office, involving a man on her security detail whom she then placed on her Senate staff. The layers of professional entanglement make the personal conduct harder to wave away as a private matter.

Accountability still has an address

Sinema left the Senate. She left her party before that. She has spent years positioning herself as someone who operates above conventional rules. But North Carolina law doesn’t care about political branding. A military wife with three children says her marriage was taken from her, and a federal judge says she deserves her day in court.

Sometimes the old laws exist for a reason.