Susan Collins raises $2.1 million in third quarter

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) raised more than $2.1 million for her reelection bid in the third quarter, the campaign announced Tuesday.

That was about $1 million less than her leading 2020 Democratic challenger, Sara Gideon, raised in the same period.  

But Collins’s campaign touted that the four-term senator has more than $7.1 million cash on hand.{mosads}

The campaign also said that more than 65 percent of the individual donations Collins received in the last three months were under $50. 

More than 83 percent of donations to Collins in the cycle to date have been under $200, the campaign also said. 

“Out-of-state interest groups and other organizations have already spent more than $2 million on negative, dark money television and radio ads as well as paid social media attacks against Senator Collins,” Collins campaign spokesman Kevin Kelley said.  

“Our team knows that we will be outspent during this campaign, but Senator Collins is working hard to ensure that her campaign will have the resources to run an effective campaign focused on her long record of bipartisan accomplishments on behalf of our state,” Kelley continued. 

The senator is facing one of her toughest Senate elections after backlash from liberals over her vote in favor of the Trump tax cut and her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

The Cook Political Report rates the Maine Senate race as a “toss-up.”  

Gideon, the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, is the most high-profile Democrat to enter the race to challenge Collins. 

Gideon’s campaign announced she raised more than $1 million in the first week of her campaign to unseat Collins and $3.2 million in the third quarter.

Gideon has disavowed donations from corporate PACs. Her campaign said Tuesday that 97 percent of all donations in the last three months were under $100.