Pro-Israel groups are spending big on Maine’s Senate race. Will it matter to voters?
Pro‑Israel lobby pours $2.8 million into Maine Senate race, backing Senator Susan Collins
By Maine News Now
In a move that has drawn attention from across the political spectrum, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has donated more than $2.8 million to Senator Susan Collins’s re‑election campaign in 2026. The amount exceeds the combined contributions of Collins’s next 20 largest donors, according to Federal Election Commission filings and data compiled by OpenSecrets.org.
AIPAC, the largest pro‑Israel lobbying group in the United States, has a long history of endorsing and financially supporting candidates who back U.S. aid to Israel. In the current cycle, the bulk of the money was routed through Collins’s campaign and leadership political action committee, a common practice among ideological groups that rely on individual donors to reach fundraising targets.
Maine’s Senate race has seen a flurry of outside spending in recent months. Troy Jackson, the Democrat challenging Collins, has received about $250,000 from J Street—a left‑leaning Zionist group that has endorsed him and designated the race a priority for its “pro‑Israel, pro‑peace, pro‑democracy” agenda. J Street’s national political director, Lexi Goldwyn, told reporters that the group supports Jackson because “his moral clarity on issues surrounding Israel‑Palestine stands in sharp contrast to Susan Collins, who has co‑signed blank‑check support for Netanyahu’s extremist policies for decades.”
Collins, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997, has consistently voted to keep billions of dollars in U.S. military aid flowing to Israel and to defeat resolutions that would block such funding. She has also opposed President Donald Trump’s proposals to annex Gaza. In a recent video posted to social media, she said, “I will always stand with the Jewish community and with Israel, our closest ally and the one true democracy in the Middle East.”
Jackson’s stance on the conflict has evolved over the course of the campaign. Early on, he disavowed any money from AIPAC and has been critical of U.S. support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which the United Nations has called a genocide. He has stated that he “will work to fight antisemitism and bring lasting peace, freedom, and security for Palestinians and Israelis.” A spokesman for Jackson’s campaign, Maggie Amjad, noted that the Senator “rejects AIPAC’s money because he opposes giving Netanyahu a blank check to wage war in Gaza,” while Collins’s campaign spokesperson, Blake Kernen, highlighted the Senator’s long‑time pro‑Israel record.
The funding surge comes as Israel’s war in Gaza has become a point of growing domestic controversy. A Gallup poll earlier this year found that more Americans now sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis for the first time in the firm’s history. In Maine, a survey by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and YouGov released in September found that 66 % of Mainers opposed sending additional military aid to Israel and that just under half believed the U.S.’s close relationship with Israel hurts American interests.
Public sentiment toward Israel in Maine has been further complicated by rising anti‑Jewish hate crimes. FBI data shows a modest uptick in incidents following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, including a Michigan synagogue attack in March 2025 and a shooting of Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., in May 2025.
In the Senate, bipartisan opposition to arms sales to Israel has become increasingly visible. An April resolution to halt some U.S. military aid to Israel was defeated, but it received 40 votes in favor—more than any similar proposal had achieved before. As the Senate’s composition remains closely divided, the positions of Maine’s next senator could influence future decisions on U.S. support for Israel’s military operations.
AIPAC has not responded to requests for comment. J Street’s statement was the only official response to the question of why it is backing Jackson over Collins.
The political financing of the race underscores the broader clash between pro‑Israel and pro‑peace advocates in U.S. politics, a conflict that has intensified since the launch of Israel’s offensive in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack. Whether Maine voters prioritize foreign policy in their decision-making remains unclear, but the money poured into the campaign indicates that the issue remains a significant factor for a sizable segment of the electorate.
