Campaign finance reports filed Tuesday by candidates for Congress and governor show that the money race is heating up across Maine.
Campaign finance reports are one indicator of how aggressively candidates are working to gain name recognition and court donors. While those reports were still trickling in before the midnight deadline, they illustrated how the campaigns are ramping up roughly 11 months before Maine's party primaries.
In the governor's race, Democrats Shenna Bellows of Manchester and Hannah Pingree of North Haven each reported raising more than half a million dollars for their campaigns. Bellows currently serves as Maine's secretary of state while Pingree — the daughter of U.S. Chellie Pingree — is a former Maine House speaker and top advisor to Gov. Janet Mills.
Businessman Angus King III of Portland, the son of U.S. Sen. Angus King, trailed not far behind the pair, reporting more than $434,000 donations during the 3-month reporting period. Another high-profile candidate, former Senate President Troy Jackson of Allagash, also reported raising more than $400,000 during the period.
Several Republicans also broke the six-figure mark.
GOP contenders Bobby Charles — a former naval intelligence officer and assistant U.S. secretary of state — reported raising more than $250,000. Businessman Owen McCarthy of Gorham raised just over $200,000 while realtor and agent David Jones of Falmouth raised $149,000. Several other Republican candidates, such as state Sen. James Libby of Standish, are either running under Maine's public campaign financing system or had not yet filed as of Tuesday evening.
State Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, who recently withdrew from the Republican Party in order to run as an independent, reported raising just shy of $203,000. As an independent, Bennett does not have to run in next June's primaries and is raising money for the general election.
Turning to Maine's high-profile congressional contests, the Democratic field hoping to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins is far from set.
But Jordan Wood of Bristol reported hauling in more than $1.6 million. Wood is a political newcomer in Maine but worked in Washington, D.C., for a California congresswoman and on campaign finance reform issues.
Collins reported raising roughly $1.2 million during the three-month reporting period. But the five-term incumbent has more than $5 million in her campaign war chest. And both national parties as well as outside groups are expected to spend huge sums on the race in Maine, which is the only place where a Republican incumbent is running in a state won by Democrat Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential race.
Seven other people have filed candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in the Senate race. But additional candidates are expected to join the race. And some Democrats are still hoping to convince Mills to enter the fray.
In the 2nd Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden's campaign reported that he raised $820,000. Golden faces at least one Democratic challenger, Louis Sigel of Gardiner, who recently jointed the race.
Meanwhile, former Republican Gov. Paul LePage received more than $550,000 in donations in his bid for the GOP nomination in the 2nd District.
