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More than $200 million was spent in Maine’s U.S. Senate race in 2020, a historic figure that raised eyebrows and became a case study for advocates of campaign finance reform.
Six years later, as Democrats bank on progressive Graham Platner and Republicans look to defend five-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to keep hold of the Senate, that record is about to be obliterated in political advertising alone.
Overall ad spending in Maine this election cycle could reach almost $500 million, according to the latest projection from AdImpact. The amount is driven by a whopping new estimate of $384 million in the Collins-Platner race alone, making the contest the fourth-most expensive Senate race in the country behind Texas, Michigan and Georgia. The races for the 2nd Congressional District and governor could also see heavy spending.
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The new estimate nearly doubles what AdImpact previously expected in Maine’s Senate race. It comes after contentious primary season spending and after Platner weathered a string of controversies in the fall and recent weeks to secure the Democratic nomination.
More than $150 million in ads through Election Day have already been booked in the race, about $100 million of it by Collins-aligned groups. But Democrats — who outspent Republicans in former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon’s losing bid in 2020 — are sure to catch up as they push to take back Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
“From record-setting races and surging party committee war chests to a competitive landscape that continues to expand, all indicators point to 2026 being the most expensive political advertising cycle in history,” AdImpact said in its report.
Nationwide, AdImpact expects $11.6 billion in ad spending this year, up from the 2023-2024 cycle’s record $11.2 billion. Political spending has exploded nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission.
Ads are also increasingly costly in Maine. A candidate’s 30-second spot in Portland cost an average of almost $250 in 2020, compared with $314 this year. But the rate for a 30-second ad from an issue group has nearly doubled, at almost $945 compared to $490 in 2020, according to AdImpact. Stations must give candidates priority and their lowest rates.
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Month-by-month averages have fluctuated this year, but issue groups that have dominated the airwaves have seen costs rise each of the last three months, with the current average for 30 seconds of airtime almost $1,600.
Running on a message of overhauling the power structure in Washington, Platner has proven a solid fundraiser who effectively booted Gov. Janet Mills from the Senate race. Collins and her allies have offered ads touting the senator’s track record of bringing home federal investment and others targeting Platner’s background, from a Nazi-linked tattoo he’s since covered to offensive social media comments and alleged toxic behavior in past relationships.
Platner outraised Collins between January of last year and May, about $16 million to more than $12 million. Platner has almost $350,000 in ads booked from the day after he won the primary through Election Day. Platner’s bid has received a boost of almost $11 million combined in ads going after Collins from the nonprofit dark money groups Majority Forward, Unrig Our Economy and Duty and Honor.
The Collins campaign hasn’t booked nearly as many ads yet between this week and Election Day. But she has significant help from dark money political action committees such as One Nation and Pine Tree Results PAC, which have already been running ads and have booked more than $46 million million combined so far.
Pine Tree Results has seen at least $1 million in donations from the Lexington Fund-connected Republican legal activist Leonard Leo, and $2.5 million from Florida hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin. Nearly 100 billionaires and their spouses have donated almost $10 million collectively to Collins’ network since the beginning of last year, The Maine Monitor reported.
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The Winning for Women Action Fund, a super PAC boosting Republican women, has booked $16 million in pro-Collins ads. Her campaign has also received more than $538,000 from at least 315 individual donors bundled through AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group.
Collins’ campaign and allies make the case that Platner will likely pick up just as much if not more super PAC and dark money donations, including from billionaires. They also say while some wealthy donors give based on ideology, many are more focused on stable government, leading them to embrace the longtime lawmaker and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Platner has rallied progressives around the argument that the money flowing into politics leads to votes that too often help donors, not working Mainers. His campaign on Friday pointed to his endorsement in May by the anti-corruption group End Citizens United, which accuses Collins of never meeting “a corporate PAC check she didn’t like.”
“We’re building a movement to get money out of politics and build a government that represents working people, not billionaires,” Platner said at the time.
American Promise, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit pressing for a constitutional amendment to empower states and Congress to regulate campaign fundraising and spending, has made progress, according to spokesperson Jenny Parker. Idaho in April became the 25th state to formally urge Congress to move on the issue.
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“Fifty years of Supreme Court rulings mean voters don’t have a say over the rules,” she said. “Our solution is seeing very strong momentum, and it is across parties.”
Yarmouth’s Ian Minnihan looks to shoot against Thornton Academy during a Class A boys lacrosse semifinal Wednesday in Saco. The Clippers face unbeaten Falmouth in Saturday’s state championship. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)
The Maine high school spring sports season reaches its conclusion with two days of excitement, as 14 state champions will be crowned Friday and Saturday. Some teams are hoping to win their first state title, while others are trying to repeat, and a few are seeking revenge after losing to the same foes in last year’s state finals.
We asked Varsity Maine reporters for something important to know about each state championship game matchup.Here’s what they said about the three boys lacrosse finals.
Class A: Falmouth (16-0) vs. Yarmouth (13-3)
Yarmouth needs to start fast. The Clippers never trailed by more than two goals in their semifinal against Thornton Academy, which kept the task manageable and allowed them to prevail late. But they fell behind 4-0 to top-ranked Falmouth in an 11-7 loss in the regular season, and against a team with the Navigators’ firepower, that’s too deep a hole. Falmouth has scored 33 goals in two tournament games, so keeping pace early is vital as Yarmouth seeks the upset.
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Class B: Marshwood (14-2) vs. York (11-5)
York intentionally played a brutally tough schedule with this state championship game in mind. Eight of the Wildcats’ 14 regular-season games were against Class A competition. Will the payoff be the team’s first state title since 2023, in its fourth straight state final?
Class C: North Yarmouth Academy (13-3) vs. Maranacook/Winthrop (10-6)
This is a rematch of last year’s final, which the Panthers won 9-7, but the scoreboard will probably be more active this time around. NYA bested Maranacook/Winthrop 17-10 on May 8, and has scored 39 goals this postseason, most coming from midfielders Stephen Connolly, Deagan Nadeau and Gavin Thomas. The Hawks have 32 playoff goals, paced by attackmen Ethan Chilton, Jacob Lyons and Caleb Morgan. With both offenses churning, possessions and defensive stops will be key.
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Drew Bonifant covers sports for the Press Herald, with beats in high school football, basketball and baseball. He was previously part of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports team. A New Hampshire…
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Dave Dyer is in his second stint with the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Dave was previously with the company from 2012-2015 and returned in late 2016. He spent most of 2016 doing freelance sports…
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Jimmy covers sports for the Sun Journal, primarily contributing to the Varsity Maine team. He is from Hagerstown, Maryland, and graduated from the University of Richmond in May of 2025 with a B.A. in journalism…
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As I sit here, late at night, staring at a blinking cursor and listening to one of those sound wave channels on YouTube that are supposed to help you block out distractions (distractions like the 3- and 4-year-old upstairs who have come down thrice because they “aren’t tired”), I try to put my finger on what I’m feeling in this moment. In this exact moment, I am sitting on the precipice of a wonderful celebration. Precisely 24 hours from now, I will be coming down off the high of honoring eight truly talented business leaders who through their work or through the work of their organizations have made our region of the state a better place to live. That’s a very cool thing, and even though I haven’t experienced it yet, having done awards events like this for 20 years now, I know it will be special. I’ll recap these winners in the weeks to come and how the Community Leadership Awards event goes, but those stories are for another day, because …
My writing trance got broken … by a YouTube commercial. A YouTube commercial for a political candidate — which one, doesn’t matter. The commercial went something like this: “This political candidate running for office is terrible, they did this awful thing, and that gruesome thing, too. I’m a real Mainer, and I could never vote for the,” then the disclaimer of “paid for by people who want the other candidate.”
I’m so exhausted by it, and it’s only June.
I’m tired of the rage cycles. I’m tired of being bombarded by some twisted version of a fact that portends to be this universe-defining moment of a candidate’s life and definitely predicts who they will forever be going forward (“If she did that, you know she will do this next” or “He has that in is past, which means this is in his future”).
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I don’t want my life, and the next five months, to be filled with that. I just read that $384 million dollars will be spent on the Platner-Collins race alone. What?! Will there literally be any commercials left on TV, radio, print or online? I mean $384 million has got to be pretty darn close to every minute of airtime for five months, right? Will there even be airtime left for the two to three gubernatorial candidates or are we just going to have to share memes for that race?
You see what happened there? I almost went back and erased it because I went down a stream of consciousness cycle of cynicism. I went down that cycle because when that is all that is around you — when it fills your airwaves, column inches and social media — it infects you. It was so easy for me to go from being thankful about being on the precipice of a joyous event to spiraling into cynicism.
Sadly, I think that is very relatable for all of us.
So, let’s choose not to do that.
Let’s intentionally decide, here and now, that when there is joy, we will recognize joy, and when there is not joy, we will manifest it for ourselves. Let’s challenge ourselves to engage in acts of celebration and thoughtfulness. Let’s applaud each other. Let’s actively tell people we appreciate them.
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I’ll start. Here are four examples to lean into, that I hope you can top in the coming days and weeks, to find your joy and manifest it for others. Let’s get competitive — try and beat these.
Twice this year, in partnership with Main Street Bath, I have been blessed to be a part of a ribbon-cutting train where we celebrate multiple businesses back-to-back-to-back. I met an oyster sommelier (I didn’t know that was a thing) who has a four-seat oyster bar called The Parlor. I met a woman who moved here from overseas to make a career by beautifying others at Empire Nail Spa. I’ve met numerous young families and seen their proud spouses look at them as they cut the ribbon, symbolizing that this dream that they are building their family on is worth it. I’ve met subject matter experts who know so much about their specialty that it inspired me to do what I love again and write more.
Another set of joy along these lines was at Half Pint Giants — the new ice cream shop in Brunswick that took over the Frappe Shoppe by the Tontine Mall — and the couple launching that to bring joy to others. Who is sad at an ice cream shop? I saw the overwhelming joy from a huge turnout for the ribbon-cutting of Nest on Maine last week, as over 70 supporters turned out to celebrate their move into the former Cool As a Moose space. And I know I will see that joy again this Friday when Phil, Mattie, Angela and their staff cut the ribbon at the new Moderation Brewing location in the old fire station.
I heard that Hairspray at Main State Music Theatre was pure, incomparable joy, and I’ve also heard that after the tough days the pandemic brought, that MSMT is back to where they were with patrons. MSMT means so much to so many citizens in the region, but also, they are a catalyst for so many businesses in the region. “1776” opens on June 24, with the obvious intention of running through the Independence Day holiday, and that is expected to be a triumph as well.
And finally, for my last piece of joy, my 4-year-old will finish his first year of pre-K tomorrow, and although he doesn’t quite understand the milestone yet, it hasn’t been lost on me. I’ve seen him grow and change in ways I couldn’t have imagined without witnessing it myself, and I am truly excited to celebrate that milestone this weekend and to imagine what’s next for him.
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So, that’s what I’m focusing on. In a world of cynicism, I choose joy. I hope you do, too.
Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick-Topsham Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Maine Public is pleased to be a media sponsor of Opera Maine’s production of Romeo and Juliette.
Experience Shakespeare’s most popular love story through Opera Maine’s production of this classic story celebrating the power of young love and the price of destiny. Romeo and Juliette will be performed at Merrill Auditorium July 23rd and 26th.
Maine Public members are eligible for 15% off tickets for this event, please use the code MainePublicOpera.
