For the second quarter in a row, Sen. Susan Collins is raising lots of money for re-election, but not from people who live in her home state of Maine. The Republican raised $1.8 million in the final quarter of 2018, but but less than $20,000 of that came from Mainers in donations of $200 or less. That trend continues, with Collins raising $1.1 million in the first quarter of 2019, with just 15 Mainers contributing.
She raised just $9,200 from only 15 residents of Maine. Yes, 15. Thirteen of them gave $200 or more this quarter, and two gave less than that this period, but have given her more in the aggregate. How many Mainers gave less than $200 this quarter isn't in the report. But with the $200-or-more group of home-state donors, she's tanking. Compared to her last re-election campaign, she's tanking. In the first three months of 2013, she had $52,000 from Mainers, representing 41 percent of her itemized donations. This year, Maine so far has contributed 0.8 percent of contributions of $200 or more.
It might have something to do with the attitude Collins displayed toward the people of her state when the Maine People's Alliance and Mainers for Accountable Leadership started pressuring her on the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. She accused Maine activists, a bunch of small-dollar donors working together, of "bribery" and illegality and intimidation, all the while raking in plenty of out-of-state and super PAC money.
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