BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Untangling The Massive Outside Money Web Behind Susan Collins

PORTLAND, ME — A new article released by Bangor Daily News unveils the “massive” dark money scheme behind Susan Collins’ campaign, allowing out-of-state billionaires and unnamed donors to bankroll her campaign while hiding their identity from Mainers. The findings come days after Senator Susan Collins said at a debate in Bangor that dark money groups shouldn’t exist – despite her own campaign being supported almost entirely by a web of Republican super PACs and nonprofits shielding undisclosed donors that have booked about $126 million in ads to keep her in office.

The article highlighted Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Troy Jackson’s promise to enact serious campaign finance reforms so that billionaires can’t buy elections. Meanwhile, Susan Collins has failed to reign in dark money and special interest groups.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Untangling the massive outside money web behind Susan Collins

An intertwined Republican network of super PACs and nonprofits has booked about $126 million in ads to reelect U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, with much of it traced to billionaires and donors who will never be named.
Along with an offshoot, SLF is the biggest outside spender in the race, having booked nearly $50 million in Maine ads. Its top donor is One Nation, a nonprofit sister group that doesn’t reveal its funders.
One Nation gave the fund $132.9 million through September and has booked nearly $35 million in its own pro-Collins ads. Billionaires supply much of the rest, led by Miriam Adelson and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman. Elon Musk gave $10 million.
Collins’ closest ties to the network run through Pine Tree Results PAC, which has booked $29.1 million in ads. It is run by Scott Reed, a Republican operative and friend of Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron, who was paid as a consultant by Reed’s lobbying firm last year. Pine Tree and her campaign also share limited fundraising functions, something federal regulators allow.
Reed ran a different super PAC backing Collins in 2020 that took an illegal $150,000 donation from a defense contractor, the focus of a ProPublica report last month.
Pine Tree’s donors also include Schwarzman, Ken Griffin and two nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors: Stronger America and the Lexington Fund, part of a network linked to conservative legal activist Leonard Leo. Stronger America has booked nearly $12 million in Maine ads.
Nearly 100 billionaires and spouses gave $9.8 million to Collins’ campaign and other groups working on her behalf from January 2025 through May, The Maine Monitor found.
[Troy Jackson’s] campaign said he would push to require disclosure of dark money “regardless of which party benefits.” “Billionaires have bought Congress, and everyday people can’t afford to buy them back,” Jackson said at Thursday’s debate.

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