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Democrat Graham Platner vastly outraised U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in the weeks ahead Maine’s June 9 primary, but he’s spending just as quickly while facing down a Republican money wall defending the five-term incumbent.
Platner raised roughly $4.5 million, compared with $1.5 million for Collins, between April 1 and May 20, according to filings due Thursday to the Federal Election Commission. But he ended the filing period with $2.2 million in cash on hand, compared with $9.7 million for Collins.
He has spent $14.3 million total since launching his campaign, with nearly 70 cents of every dollar going toward advertising. Platner’s campaign spent $2.8 million in April alone, reflecting a general election-style strategy for the political newcomer facing an uphill battle against Republicans training attacks on him as the newly minted presumptive nominee.
Republican-aligned groups have reserved roughly $99 million in advertising in the massive Senate race through the end of 2026, compared with about $44 million on the Democratic side, according to AdImpact data. It has allowed Collins, who has no competition in the June primary, to bank money in preparation for the November election.
The clearest illustration of that Republican money machine is Pine Tree Results PAC, a Maine-focused outside group that has reserved $23.8 million in ads on Collins’ behalf.
Two of Pine Tree Results’ largest contributions, $3 million from Stronger America Inc. and $1 million from the Lexington Fund connected to the Republican legal activist Leonard Leo, came from organizations that do not publicly disclose their donors. Among the recent donors were Florida hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who gave $2.5 million this month.
Collins, who raised $12.2 million from 2025 through May 20, has drawn from her own robust national donor network. The pro-Israel lobbying organization AIPAC bundled more than $538,000 from 315 individual donors in the most recent filing period alone, by far the largest single source of organized money in her campaign filing.
Platner has been a sharp critic of both AIPAC and Israel’s war in Gaza and has done outreach to Maine’s Jewish community after a ream of fall controversies that are being reupped in Republican attack ad, including old and offensive Reddit posts and the disclosure of his tattoo of a Nazi symbol that he later covered.
Former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, each gave the $7,000 maximum, as did several members of his Utah political network around a fundraiser the senator attended in that state.
Platner’s donor base looked markedly different. While Democratic megadonor George Soros and his son, Alexander Soros, each gave the $7,000 maximum, the bulk of his fundraising came through ActBlue, the Democratic small-dollar fundraising platform, reflecting a grassroots operation with a national progressive footprint.
The big-money operations from both parties will step up to aid both Collins and Platner through November assuming the Democrat wins next month’s primary over Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign last month but is still on the ballot, and longshot David Costello.
