Balgarianovinite.com
Maine Democrat Graham Platner has built his populist Senate campaign around a fierce opposition to what he calls the “billionaire class.” That hasn’t stopped some of the ultra wealthy from donating to his campaign.
The 41‑year‑old combat veteran and oysterman is the frontrunner for his party’s nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races – a contest Democrats increasingly view as central to their hopes of regaining control of the chamber.
True to his anti-establishment branding, Platner has built a massive small-dollar apparatus, raising $16.3 million through May 20 with nearly $2.2 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings ahead of the June 9 primary. Nearly 60% of his total comes from unitemized contributions under $200.
But those documents also show that Platner – whose endorsers include prominent progressives Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) – received contributions in May from several billionaires, including George Soros, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker and Jennifer Pritzker, according to an OpenSecrets review of FEC data cross‑referenced with the Forbes billionaires list.
Those donations stand out not because of their size but because Platner has repeatedly criticized the influence of wealthy donors in politics. In a May 19 X post, he claimed that 300 billionaires spent $3 billion “to buy the 2024 elections,” accused Congress of giving the ultra-rich a tax cut a year later and ended the post with: “Ban billionaires buying elections.”
His campaign received $7,000 from Soros on May 11; $7,000 from Pat Stryker on May 1; $5,000 from her brother Jon Stryker on May 7; and $1,503 from Pritzker on May 17, filings show. Combined, those contributions account for less than 0.5% of the nearly $4.4 million raised by the campaign between April 1 and May 20 – a negligible share of his overall itemized contributions.
Federal law caps those direct donations at $3,500 per election. But the ultra wealthy may wield even more influence by routing contributions to super PACs, which can accept unlimited sums and spend independently of the campaigns they support and oppose. For example, the pro-Collins super PAC Pine Tree Results PAC is funded in large part by contributions in the millions from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, hedge fund manager Paul Singer and New Balance owner Jim Davis.
But while Platner’s campaign is built on small‑dollar populism, the nationalization of the race – and its stakes for Senate control – mean billionaire donors and outside groups inevitably become part of the picture, whether he wants them or not, campaign finance experts say.
“The reality is, that’s kind of standard procedure in contemporary American elections – that each side has their billionaires,” Mark Brewer, who chairs the University of Maine’s department of political science, told OpenSecrets. “It’s not like the billionaire class is just one side of the other. Although candidates would often like to have you believe that, that’s just simply not true. … You can definitely sustain the campaign on small donations from less affluent donors and voters, but donors of deep pockets help too, and each side has their deep pockets.”
OpenSecrets reached out to the Platner campaign for comment. In response, a spokesperson acknowledged the request but did not immediately address the campaign’s fundraising strategy.
Platner’s primary race reshaped when Mills halted her campaign
Initially, the Democratic primary shaped up as a classic establishment-versus-progressive ideological matchup between Platner and Gov. Janet Mills. Mills suspended her campaign in April, but as the primary drew near, she reminded voters that she remains on the ballot as Platner’s campaign was beset by controversy.
“If this was Janet Mills as the nominee, she obviously would not get the small-dollar money because she’s not as interesting to the base Democratic voters,” said Michael Franz, a professor of government and legal studies at Bowdoin College. “But there would be boatloads – millions, tens of millions – of super PAC money from the Democrats in this race.”
Through May 20, Platner’s fundraising haul was 109 times larger than that of his remaining primary opponent – former bureaucrat David Costello reported raising less than $150,000 – and he held a 52-to-1 advantage in cash on hand.
“Now that we assume it’s going to be Platner vs. Collins – we know it’s going to be Collins, and we presume that it’s going to be Platner – it’s going to continue to get national attention,” Brewer said. “This could, in fact, be, if not the race, one of the small handful of Senate races that decides control of the Senate. And so, this is a national race and has been from the outset.”
Platner’s fundraising profile has also begun to shift in ways that reflect that growing nationalization. His share of small-dollar contributions, which stood at 64% through March, dropped to 59% overall through May 20. Contributions from political action committees more than doubled, rising from just under $78,000 through March 31 to nearly $175,000 through mid-May. PACs tied to organized labor made up much of that increase, including $10,000 from an electrical workers union PAC and multiple $5,000 contributions from other labor union PACs.
That nationalization could test Platner’s grassroots base following controversies that surfaced recently, Franz said. The Wall Street Journal reported May 30 that Platner exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women. The New York Times then reported June 4 that several former girlfriends accused him of behavior described as “toxic” and “violent.” Platner, who said he and his wife worked through the texting scandal and has met privately with Senate Democrats in the wake of the controversies, denied “anything alleging physicality” with his ex-girlfriends in an interview with MSNOW.
“I think that’s going to raise some questions for some Democratic base contributors across the country about whether or not he’s maybe just a bridge too far for them to send 50 or 100 bucks,” Franz said. “He is a master on the stump, and so he might be able to tell people, ‘Look, this is the institution, the establishment coming after me. And so I need your support.’ And if that happens, then he might be able to keep the war chest full.”
Sharp contrast in sources of candidates’ funds
Platner’s fundraising structure stands in stark contrast to Collins, who raised nearly $12.2 million through May 20. But only 8% of her total came from the unitemized, small-dollar contributions that dominate Platner’s campaign.
Instead, roughly $6.4 million came from itemized individual contributions, $3.7 million came from transfers from authorized committees – including her joint fundraising committee – and $986,000 came from PACs. That includes contributions from leadership PACs tied to Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and other high-profile Republicans.
Collins also has a significant edge in cash on hand. Her war chest grew to $9.7 million, and because she is an incumbent unchallenged in the primary, she has largely not had to touch it. By contrast, Platner’s cash total dipped by roughly $500,000 after March 31, when it exceeded $2.7 million.
“What you see from Senator Collins is what you’d expect from a multi-term incumbent United States senator who has the Senate Appropriations Committee – that’s kind of a traditional fundraising profile,” Brewer said.
During her most recent race in 2020, Collins defeated Democrat Sarah Gideon despite being outraised by more than $45 million, Collins campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick noted.
“Our goal is to raise enough money to run our race, but we know that we will be outraised, which is why we try to be conservative with our spending,” Roderick told OpenSecrets.
Super PACs widen biggest gap between candidates
The widest financial gulf between the two candidates is not found on their campaigns’ balance sheets. Rather, it belongs to the super PACs spending independently on the race.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that supports GOP candidates, has already pledged $42 million – its largest investment in Maine – to back Collins. Meanwhile, the pro-Collins Pine Tree Results PAC has raised more than $16 million through May 20 and has already invested $2 million in television and digital ads attacking Platner.
Among its largest benefactors, Stronger America – a 501(c)(4) dark-money nonprofit led by GOP operative Paul Cooksey – donated $3 million on Dec. 29, 2025. Schwarzman donated $2 million while Davis, Singer and the Lexington Fund – a dark money group linked to conservative activist and Maine resident Leonard Leo – each contributed $1 million, according to FEC filings.
By comparison, Platner has been the beneficiary of just $600 in independent expenditures by the Texas-based super PAC The People United PAC, FEC records show.
“They’re going to spend tens of millions of dollars on TV ads and digital advertising promoting her and attacking Platner, and that is going to be hard to compete with from the Platner campaign alone,” Franz said. “Platner’s going to need support from similar big-dollar super PAC spending. And even if he himself is anathema to that – doesn’t really want big money coming in to help – those efforts, he can’t control, obviously. But he’s going to need it in order to compete with the huge outside money that’s going to happen for Collins.”
The pivotal question of the general election might be whether Platner can navigate the impending independent media blitz without a big-money counterweight of his own, Franz said, noting that the text-message scandal leaves left-leaning groups facing a difficult decision about whether to defend him.
“Do those big-dollar super PACs, ones closely aligned with the Democratic Party, are they going to hold their nose at Platner – they don’t necessarily love him – given recent developments, and put their money into this campaign, knowing they need it in order to win the Senate?” Franz said. “Or are they going to kind of leave him to kind of fend for himself, because he is potentially more controversial than they might want? And so I think those questions will be interesting ones for the party, because I think from Platner’s perspective, just getting small-dollar contributions from across the country to compete with tens of millions from outside pro-Collins groups is going to be very challenging.”
Brewer expects the next major financial guidepost – the quarterly filings in July – to at least hint at the answer.
“When the next report comes out, what is it going to show for his fundraising as this is unfolding?” Brewer said. “Is he going to see a massive increase of people saying, ‘You know what? He’s under attack and he’s my guy,’ or are donations going to slow down a little bit? That’ll be the thing to watch.”
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