Big Money and the Maine Election: Round 2

Yves here. Graham Platner may be dead as a political candidate, but the debate about his run and what is happening in the campaign for the Senate seat now held by Susan Collins is very much alive. Like Bernie Sanders, Platner’s funding came mostly from small donors. Despite the fact that Maine Democrats sincerely want a new person to be elected to represent the interests of Maine, the Maine Democratic Party actually receives very large donations from out-of-state sources, putting paid to the idea that it can operate independently.

By Thomas Ferguson, Research Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Paul Jorgensen, Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary and Community Engagement Program, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; and Jie Chen, University Statistician, University of Massachusetts. Originally published on the website of the Institute for New Economic Thinking

The upheaval in the Maine Senate race has focused the attention of candidates and party leaders. Of particular note is what campaign finance data reveals about the state’s Democratic Party and its structural dependence on national organizations and large out-of-state donors.

In the past two months, the Maine Senate election has shown all the hallmarks of the classic game between David and Goliath. In the role of giant was the incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, backed by a huge wave of foreign money mainly from the biggest donors, including about 100 billionaires or their spouses. David’s challenger was Democrat Graham Platner, who had already forced the withdrawal of Maine Governor Janet Mills, who was also seeking the nomination. Platner’s campaign financing profile was very different from both the leaders of Collins and the two organizations: In fact there are no large donations, similar to the different profile of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that we have analyzed before. See Figures 1 and 2 and Sanders, Figure 4.

Figure 1: Big Money in Maine Senate Elections Round 1

But it was then; this now. As a blockbuster movie about a legendary Greek hero began to engulf the American cultural landscape over the summer, Maine pulled out one Hollywood hit. The state borrowed from another famous Greek philosopher, Heraclitus: A scandal broke out, and suddenly everyone found out that you cannot enter the same Senate election twice.

The bitter arguments made by Platner’s 11^th the cancellation of the hour has dominated media coverage ever since. Currently i New York Times and other media reports that Maine Democrats have firmly decided to reject efforts by state leaders of the Democratic Alliance nationally, such as Senate Minerals Leader Charles Schumer to influence the selection of a new nominee. But we were interested to see that, as in another famous case of 2024, party leaders decided against a rapid “fire” basis to let the voters decide. Instead, leaders chose to elect a new candidate at the 601-person convention, which will include the 101 members of the Maine State Democratic Committee.

We have no special insight into the thinking of Maine Democratic leaders. But after seeing Times essay about how unpopular Senator Schumer is, we thought the funding of the Maine Democratic Party might be worth looking into. As always, we’re making a move that other political funds don’t: we’re aggregating donations from the same people and organizations to reflect the true nature of donor profiles. At first glance, one can see how big or small money dominates.[1]

State parties are different animals from individual election campaigns. The former, for example, is likely to show at least small contributions. But almost all the cases we have considered also show the influx of large sums of money, from donors both inside and outside the region. The size of those contributions varies according to circumstances and urgent need, with money from national party organizations often the most important, especially in nearby states like Maine, which don’t have Wall Streets or casinos or high-tech of their own to tap.

We’re not really surprised, rightly so, to find that the two biggest sources of money coming into the Maine party come from organizations affiliated with the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Contributions by Donor Size – Maine Democratic Party 2025-2026 Election Cycle

This is, in fact, outside of the state’s contributions, as most of the money has already been taken by the group, as Figure 3 shows.

Figure 3: Contributions by Donor Size and Source – Maine Democratic Party 2025-2026

It is clear that the party is much more dependent on large donors than Platner is, even if the level of dependence pales in comparison to parties in other, wealthier states. Dependence on foreign funds is equally evident.

But the actual collection of small donations from donors is telling. We don’t work with a Northeastern expert, for example, Senator Mitch McConnell or Senator Schumer himself. See Figure 4, from our previous analysis of the leaders of both parties in 2016. Like Donald Trump in 2016, the campaign finance profile of the Maine Democratic Party shows a “barbell” structure, with a mix of small and large donations that accumulate at both ends of the monetary scale.

Figure 4: Capital Dominance

Contribution Size of US Political Leaders 2016

The conclusion should be that the statement that the party has distanced itself from the national democratic movement must be taken with buckets, not grains, of salt. The state party’s reliance on large foreign funds is systematic, with no one to capture ordinary Maine citizens. Rather like the Odyssey, public discussion mixes poetry with reality, with the distinction that Homer was blind, while American journalists and voters were not.

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• 1. For methods, see the discussion in Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Chen, “How Money Drives US Congressional Elections: Linear Models of Money and Outcomes,” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 61, No. 2, 527-45; For details of this piece, see also Ferguson, Jorgensen, Lalisse, and Chen, “The Big Money Race and the Maine Senate Race: A Tale of Two Pictures,” Center for New Economic Thinking, June 30, 2026;