Yves here. Needless to say, there are not even remotely 100 billionaires who vote in Maine.
The freakout over Graham Platner is telling.
By Jake Johnson, a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
A new analysis of campaign finance data shows that nearly 100 billionaires and their spouses have contributed to Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection bid so far, funneling nearly $10 million to the incumbent’s campaign committee and PACs supporting her effort to fend off progressive challenger Graham Platner.
The Maine Monitor on Thursday published a list of billionaires who have donated to Collins and Platner, who has called his Republican opponent a “corrupt” protector and beneficiary of an oligarchic political system. The outlet notedthat Collins’ billionaire donation total “stands in stark contrast with the fundraising of her opponent… whose campaign has mostly attracted smaller amounts of funds but from many more people.”
The $9.8 million that Collins’ fundraising network received from billionaires and their spouses between January 2025 and late May 2026 represents “a third of what groups supporting Collins raised from all donors,” according to The Maine Monitor’s analysis.
Platner’s reelection bid has received donations from billionaires George Soros, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker, Christy Walton, and Jennifer Pritzker. Those contributions represent “a fraction of 1% of his total haul,” The Maine Monitor noted. The Democratic candidate’s campaign said Thursday that “grassroots donors chipping in $200 or less have given Graham Platner $9.6 million.”
“While Susan Collins’ campaign is backed by billionaire donors, our campaign is built on a movement funded by the people, with an average donation of $26,” Ben Chin, Platner’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “The establishment can bring it on—they cannot defeat the will of working Mainers, 15,000+ volunteers, and a campaign powered by small-dollar donors from nearly every zip code in Maine.”
Collins’ largest billionaire donor to date came from Ken Griffin, a hedge fund manager who pumped $2.5 million into Pine Tree Results, a Super PAC supporting the five-term Republican incumbent. Collins’ network has also received at least $1 million from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, New Balance chair James Davis, and hedge fund manager Paul Singer.
this is oligarchy — pass it on pic.twitter.com/hU3nsRx9w4
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) June 12, 2026
The Maine Monitor observed that “the majority of the billionaire donations to Collins this cycle are from billionaires who made their money in alternative investments, including hedge funds and private equity.”
In 2017, Collins voted for legislation that delivered massive tax breaks to large corporations and American billionaires, whose collective wealth surged to $8.1 trillion last year. ProPublica reported that private equity became Collins’ “most reliable source of donations” after she withdrew an amendment to the 2017 legislation that would have targeted one of the industry’s beloved tax breaks.
On top of billionaire funding, Collins’ campaign has benefited from massive ad spending by dark-money groups such as One Nation. The group, which is aligned with Sen. Mitch McConnell, has spent more than $19 million on advertising for Collins so far.
The fate of Bernie Sanders was a cautionary tale for “progressive” politicians. This race will be the coda to the Tale of Bernie and the Forty-thousand Thieves. If Platner wins, then there is hope for America. If Collins wins, the Fixx is in and always shall be (until the entire system is ‘reformed.’)
“Then o noble listeners, the Evil Vizir did rub the brass lamp vigourously and lo!, the Djinni of K Street didst appear in a great cloud of smoke and mirrors! The amazed Vizir then asked; “Knowing what thee is famous for, I hereby ask for Peace and Amity to rule in the land.” ” Alas oh ethically challenged one,” replied the Djinn,” knowest not thou that we of the Spectral Realm are constrained to the mere disbursement of cash and coin?”
Stay safe. Prepare.
I think Bernie’s first campaign’s ability to mount a strong challenge with more funds from small donors than the estab thought possible scared the starch out of the estab.
(I sometimes wonder if that’s why the estab in both parties seem fine with inflation. It makes the small donor’s pocketbook poorer. Just my musings.)
As if to prove my point about the 2 party estabs wanting to make regular people poorer (lest regular people have enough money to mount a successful challenge the estab), I give you T’s latest. He ‘loves’ inflation.
From Breaking Points.
Trump: ‘I LOVE THE INFLATION’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vhscjhDDmA
Not only poorer also sicker, etc. They want to get rid of all these pesky people, thinking they can replace them with AI.
I suspect there will be a similar plutocrat freakout here is MI with the candidacy of Abdul El-Sayed for Senate. What’s a few million to a fat cat with even just a paltry few billion? They can make that in an afternoon of, umm, work.
I am so tied of the lame response from progressives on this issue. WE have the money so WE have the power. If you hate the oligarchs so much then stop giving them your money.
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This is not hard. What was hard was my grandfather striking in PA coal country in 1950. He got his head beat in, what will you suffer? Is there one person here who will commit to this and spread the word?
In MD-6, the former congressman wants to return to office, while his successor is not inclined to step aside – hence a primary contest. David Trone ran for the Senate nomination last cycle, and didn’t get it. The wife of the congressman prior to him, April McClain Delaney, was elected in 2024. Both are wealthy, so this is on some level a battle of the plutocrats.
I prefer Trone, because of what I consider “bad faith” ads from Delaney at the beginning of the campaign: accusing Trone of “abandoning the district” last election – clearly not what happened; and accusing him of being rich and different from the rest of us – yes, he is, but so is she. More recently, I have heard that AIPAC money has gone to Delaney, but not to Trone – from my perspective, another difference in favor of Delaney.
My last political donation went to Bernie Sanders. When Obama was running for office, the first time, I wrote this verse, modeled after Lewis Carroll’s “The Mad Gardener’s Song”:
She thought she saw a Candidate
Who’d put an End to War.
She looked again, and found it was
The Same Game as Before.
“If that’s the way it goes,” she said,
Then what is voting for?
Also:
Never buy Exxon-Mobil gas
Don’t shop at Walmart
Avoid banking/credit cards from Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase
Don’t patronize any multi-state restaurant chain outlets (fast food or not)
Never vote for a politician with a degree from Harvard, Yale or Princeton (especially a MBA)
I suspect this is much more about keeping Platner out than keeping Collins in. With this kind of money you can make small planes crash in remote areas.
Just ask Hale Boggs.
Or more to the point, Paul Wellstone…
Or Mel Carnahan.
Or Buddy Holly…
Or Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
Driven to the airport that day by none other than Mr Bill Clinton. Who knew
Oh man. “Sick Willie” was a Globalist even back then.
Then, playing from the side where names are not attached, AIPAC Tracker reports Collins receiving over $1,000,000 and Platner receiving $0 dollars in lobby donations.
It wouldn’t shock me if these left-populist candidates started facing attempts on their lives, ala the Gracchi.
There aren’t enough of them in the House or Senate to matter.
They rarely expand their bases or try to get people elected in other regions.
We’ll likely learn that Platner is more of an establishment figure if he wins. Much like Rubin Gallego.
Good point. But our overlords don’t seem to be the rational, calculating types, and it’s their overreacting I’d fear. Think of the innocuous targets of state repression, hell, think of the hatred for Ms. Rachel, of all people.
Here in Kentucky ~20 Kentucky Party candidates cleared the ballot access petition bar June 1 and now will be on the November ballot as anti-corruption, anti-war candidates. It remains to be seen what kind of money they can raise and what kind of races they can run between now and then, but it’s a step.
Chris Campbell for US senate (national guard, ret., got an MPH in 2019 and worked in public health during the pandemic, then defunded, current auto parts mfg line worker, member of carpenter’s union, and doordasher)
Mohammad Wael Ahmad for US House 4th dist (vs Ed Gallrein) (First generation Palestinian, long-time anti-genocide community organizer in Nurthern Kentucky, former sportswriter, compelling speaker)
Pete Lynch for US House 6th dist (Polisci professor at Univ of KY, organizer against hyperscale data centers)
Geoff Young for KY House dist 75 (Ret. environmental engineer with state of KY, long time unsuccessful anti war candidate, studied under Noam Chomsky at MIT in 1970s, in the same class as Netanyahu, fiercely hated by KY Dems)
They all made it, and will be on the november ballot. We won a soil and conservation board seat in Lexington in the nonpartisan municipal elections, and we’re running candidates in other minicipal and county races, where the ballot access petition threshold is much more managable.
This took getting 10,000 kentuckians to sign ballot access petitions, about the same number we got for ballot access in the presidential election 2 years ago. We aren’t good at fundraising or media strategy, at least not yet, and could use help making any of these campaigns go, but we may be the best in the country at ballot access.
In case anyone is still in the swamp of delusion of thinking that taxes should not be much, much higher — income, capital gains, and inheritance — because, as we all know, the U S of A is the land of the free and home of the dodgy billionaire — this article is proof of the need in the U S of A for a highly progressive system of taxation.
And then one might consider getting rid of regressive sales and excise taxes.
Oh, I know, I know, Nancy Pelosi says that all Usonians are capitalists now, and she’s worth 100 million smackeroonis, never having worked a day in private industry. The wealth all came from the B.V.M., I s’pose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pelosi#Financial_status
The term “donation to” is being used loosely. The max donation to a candidate committee for us senate is $3,500 for primary and $3,500 for general. Collins’ committee “Collins for Senate” took in $8 million of these $3,500 and under donations this cycle.
The real money ($16 million) is in the “super-pac” “Pine Tree Results PAC”, which as a super-pac is an independent-expenditure only committee. (Data from FEC reports.)
Though I guess most commenters here are all up in arms about allowing a non-profit corporation like “Citizens United” to spend on election communications so must be glad that if citizens united is overturned, it will just be the billionaires funding super-pacs.
My state passed a new law this year that attempts to make it illegal for even non-profit unincorporated associations to make expenditures influencing elections (Act 11, Session Laws of Hawaii 2026). So I guess it’s now illegal for a state political party committee to spend any money.
Note that a case was argued before the Supreme Court this year on appeal from the 5th Circuit, Watson v RNC dealing with coordinated expenditures from the FECA-authorized national committees (for the Rs, RNC, NRSC, NRCC). A decision is expected by 4 July.
But this Collins race is going to be small change compared to Texas.
80 years old Schwartzman’s $400 million super yacht is undergoing trials. I wonder if his estate will pay taxes? https://www.dailymail.com/news/articles-15894649/Billionaire-hedge-fund-tycoon-buys-one-worlds-expensive-superyachts-400m.html
Noted the difference between the sizes of billionaire contributions. Top donor Soros gave Platner $7000. Ken Griffin gave Collins $2,500,000. Schwartzman gave over $2,000,000.
What is needed is campaign finance regulation that removes all the limits on the candidates for getting, reporting and spending money and imposes compliance on the vendors and donors of goods and services to all campaigns— including PACs and “foundations” which promote issues a candidate is identified with. This is a Fairness Doctrine writ large: those parties must supply to all other qualified candidates the same goods and services at no cost.
Thus, the 100-odd billionaires would see their money given to Collins or Platner providing equal air time, jet time, telecomm equipment and so forth to all the candidates that the laws of the State of Maine recognize as qualified. Unqualified candidates would be bound by the law, but would not receive any freebies from the vendors.
Vendors would adjust their prices. Candidates could stop hustling for money. Winners would not be obligated to their major donors. And the new winning strategy would be to have the most volunteers of any campaign
Perhaps we should take a page out of the CCP playbook and make political bribery and campaign fraud capital offences.
All the more reason for Platner’s promise in his primary victory speech: “I will be the Senator for those not rich enough to buy one!”
Melinda Gates. That’s disappointing. I guess
Only to be expected. Melinda, while slightly less toxic than Bill, is where she is and can only be so “charitable” because of the system Susan Collins has so ably supported for decades.
I am still giving Mackenzie Bezos a little shadow of a doubt until I can really look into her, but Melinda Gates was deeply complicit with the worst of both Microsoft and the Foundation. The more recent better PR choices does not change that
Americans seem over-focussed on elections. But whenever the power of capital has been thwarted it has not been through an election of some candidate, capitalists can cope with them. But it has been through organizing of a parallel society fo vast numbers of people. The labour movement in the early 1900s is the most famous example.