Susan M. Collins
Senator · R-ME
OverviewMoney & Influence
93% of Collins's money comes from outside ME.
The majority of funding comes from donors who cannot vote for this member.
$3.8M raised$778 avg donation7% from ME
Key Findings
93% of donations come from outside ME
A supermajority of Susan M. Collins's funding comes from donors who cannot vote for them.
12% of PAC money comes from regulated industries
Some funding comes from industries within this member's committee jurisdiction.
71% of money comes from large donors (>$1,000)
A significant share of funding comes from major individual donors.
No revolving door connections detected
No former staff were matched to registered lobbyists.
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
Show ↓
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
How It Works
The Influence Pipeline
How money flows to — and through — Susan M. Collins's office.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
The cycle repeats.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
The cycle repeats.
Follow the Money
Top individual donor: Isom, Robert from TX ($14K). Finance is the largest PAC sector at $412K from 181 PACs.
Industry PACs
$1.4MWhich sectors fund this member
Leadership PACs
$4.1MHow much power this member brokers
Dirigo Pac
Raised: $819KSpent: $290K
Dirigo Pac
Raised: $1.2MSpent: $1.3M
Dirigo Pac
Raised: $949KSpent: $780K
Dirigo Pac
Raised: $768KSpent: $455K
Dirigo Pac
Raised: $374KSpent: $329K
Top Individual Donors
$4.4MNamed people writing checks
Isom, Robert↗$14K
TX · American Airlines · 3xLevy, Edward C.↗$14K
MI · Edward C. Levy Co. · 7xWeiner, Kane↗$11K
TX · Texas Crude Energy, Llc · 5xWeiner, Kane↗$10K
TX · 3xGoldman, Amir↗$10K
PA · Goldman · 3xCT · Atlas Holdings · 4x
Collins
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Intelligence
Votes Cast by Policy Area
Economics and Public Finance
207
International Affairs
83
Armed Forces and National Security
68
Health
35
Transportation and Public Works
35
Taxation
29
Deep Dive
How we built this & what it doesn't prove
- • Donor data from FEC filings (9.47M individual contributions)
- • Voting records from Congress.gov roll call data
- • Lobbying data from Senate LDA filings
- • Staff employment from House disbursement records
Correlation between donations and votes does not prove causation. Members may vote in alignment with donors because they share genuine policy beliefs, not because of financial influence. We present the connections — you decide what they mean.