I'm Worried... About Maine

Why? Because tons of PAC money is pouring in!

PACs intensify spending in Maine's gubernatorial primary

Maine Public

By Steve Mistler

June 3, 2026

Political action committees with the ability to spend unlimited money trying to influence Maine's gubernatorial race have spent more than $8 million trying to shape next Tuesday's primary election.

With less than a week left before the election, the total spending by PACs is approaching the $12 million spent by the 12 candidates vying to replace Gov. Janet Mills next year. While PAC spending has eclipsed candidate spending in recent years, groups operating separately from the candidate campaigns haven't historically been as active during party primaries.

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Nevertheless, the $8.6 million PAC spending in the gubernatorial primary is already approaching the $13.7 million that outside groups spent during the entire 2022 race for governor. In 2010, PACs spent $3.6 million compared to $15.5 million by candidates.

This year, the most spending has come from the Restoration of America PAC, a committee funded by Republican megadonor Thomas Klingenstein. At $4.7 million, Restoration of America accounts for more than half of the PAC primary spending, according to data compiled by the Maine Ethics Commission.

Just another billionaire pumping in tons of money!

The group is backing former state Sen. Garrett Mason, one of seven Republicans vying for the GOP nomination. The Maine Dream, a PAC backing Republican candidate Jonathan Bush, is the second leading spender at $1.1 million, as of Tuesday. Working Mainers First, a committee backing Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, is No. 3 on the list at $751,000, followed by the Maine Conservation Voters PAC (roughly $700,000) backing Democratic candidate Hannah Pingree and 314 Action ($640,000) backing Democratic candidate Nirav Shah.

Ka-ching!

Money is pouring in from both sides!

Graham Platner welcomes attacks from 'fascists and bigots' over his support for trans rights

The Maine Democratic Senate nominee secured a national transgender rights PAC endorsement while pledging not to abandon LGBTQ+ Americans.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Jun 24, 2026

Days after marching in the Portland Pride Parade, Graham Platner, Maine’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is promising to fight federal attacks on transgender Americans as he heads into a nationally watched general election against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

In an exclusive interview with The Advocate on Wednesday, Platner welcomed the endorsement from the Christopher Street Project, a political action committee dedicated to electing transgender rights advocates. The group’s executive director, Tyler Hack, said Platner represents the kind of Democrat needed not only to build a congressional majority but also to prevent transgender people’s rights from being negotiated away.

[...]

The Christopher Street Project’s support came two days after the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Platner at a Monday event in Portland. Its president, Alexis McGill Johnson, backed him as a defender of reproductive freedom and contrasted his position with Collins’s vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who later voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

For the Senate race, the Maine Morning Star reported that:

Nearly 100 billionaires and their spouses have donated to reelect Susan Collins

The level of billionaire funding shows how the race, which could decide control of the U.S. Senate, has drawn interest and funding from some of the wealthiest people in the world.

By: Josh Keefe

June 12, 2026

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced her reelection campaign in February by posting a video that showed her opening a box of New Balance running shoes.

The video didn’t mention that New Balance’s owner and chairman, billionaire Jim Davis, gave $1 million to the super PAC supporting Collins’ campaign seven months prior. The company is based in Boston and has manufacturing facilities in Maine. It was one of four donations Davis made last year to the network of committees raising money for Collins.

Davis, who is worth an estimated $6.1 billion, is one of at least 79 billionaires who donated to Collins’ network between January 2025 and May 20, 2026, according to a Maine Monitor analysis of Federal Election Commission campaign finance data. If billionaires’ spouses are included in the tally, the number rises to 97.

Collectively, the group of nearly 100 billionaires and spouses has donated $9.8 million to the Collins network since the start of 2025, representing a third of what groups supporting Collins raised from all donors.

Our elections are being bought. We have the best government money can buy.

It is PACs that need to be reined in. Campaigns should be limited to donations from individuals only, not corporations or PACs. The modern era of heavy corporate and "big money" influence in elections is mainly traced to Citizens United (2010), combined with follow-up rulings that enabled super PACs.

What I think needs to be done is pass a law allowing only citizens to donate to campaigns. PACs would be banned because they're not citizens. We also need limits on campaign donations; otherwise, a billionaire could pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a political campaign.

We need to make elections fair again.