Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign raised $3.9 million in the third quarter of 2026 — a figure that paled in comparison to the $20.4 million raised by her opponent, Troy Jackson.

But Republicans are still badly outspending Democrats on the Senate race overall. So far, Republican-aligned groups have spent or reserved $151.5 million on ads, compared to $110.7 million by Democrat-aligned groups, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.

Collins’ campaign spent almost $11 million from July through September, Thursday’s quarterly finance report showed.

Jackson released detailed campaign finance numbers at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, despite promising to do so by Wednesday morning. His upstart campaign raked in more than $19.4 million in donations and about $1 million from other groups.

Collins is running to win a sixth term in the U.S. Senate and, as the lone Republican in Congress from New England, is facing political headwinds in the final three weeks of the campaign. Polling has repeatedly shown Jackson ahead or within the margin of error.

It’s going to be a close race. Here’s how Collins’ and Jackson’s camps used their money — and raised it, in the campaign’s crucial months.

Collins’ biggest area of spending, unsurprisingly, was advertising. About 85% of the campaign’s $10.8 million spent between July and the end of September was on advertising.

The campaign spent nearly $6.5 million on media buys, the report shows, almost entirely through Mentzer Media Services, which is based in Towson, Maryland. Collins’ team also spent more than $2.8 million on digital fundraising and advertising through the Arlington, Virginia-based consulting firm Targeted Victory.

Using out-of-state consultants to buy media and place advertisements is par for the course. Prior to these new three-month reports being filed Thursday, less than 4% of the money in Maine’s federal races was being spent in this state, and the overwhelming majority of it was going toward advertising.

According to media tracker AdImpact, Collins’ campaign has spent or reserved space for almost $12.4 million in advertising. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and Collins’ campaign have bought an additional $2.6 million in advertising and a Collins joint fundraising committee has about $1.6 million lined up.

But it’s the outside money — from political action committees, or PACs — that is dominating Maine’s airwaves. Collins is a bigger beneficiary than her opponent, Jackson, AdImpact’s figures show.

Jackson’s campaign spent about $16.4 million during its first quarter, and still had almost $4 million in cash at the end of the period.

About three-quarters of the campaign’s spending was on advertising, mostly to Chevy Chase, Maryland-based TKO Buying LLC and the Washington D.C. firm Sage Media Planning & Placement, Inc.

Jackson’s campaign has bought or reserved $20.4 million in advertisements, according to AdImpact. Again, though, Democrats are being heavily out-spent on advertising in the race, to the tune of about $40 million.

The second-largest expense for Jackson’s campaign was “list acquisition” — or, in other words, buying donor information. The campaign spent $1.5 million for that purpose.

The Collins campaign had $11 million on hand at the start of this filing period, in July. Most of that was spent down, but Collins also brought in an additional $3.9 million.

Collins’ most notable donor in this report cycle was George W. Bush, the former Republican president who has long summered in Kennebunkport. Bush gave $3,500 on Aug. 26, the report shows.

Collins also received $3,500, the maximum for individual donors, from U.S. Secretary of Education and wrestling executive Linda McMahon. Thomas Klingenstein, the conservative megadonor who helped bankroll a political committee for failed gubernatorial candidate Garrett Mason, also gave the personal max to Collins’s campaign.

Almost all of Collins’ fundraising came from individuals — about $3.7 million. But almost all of those individual contributions came from out-of-state. Among Collins’ donations from individuals, two-thirds were less than $100.

Only 11% of the money from individual donors during this three-month period came from Maine. Florida, Texas, California and New York donors gave more than three times what Collins’ Maine donors gave — though some of those funds were subject to refund.

Jackson sprinted out of the gate and, despite his late start, raised well over $20 million in his first quarter.

Almost all of that was from individual donors. Jackson’s campaign said they raised money from nearly 200,000 individual donors, including from every Maine county. About 95% of the contributions were $100 or less, the campaign said.

Dan Kleban, Jackson’s opponent, briefly, for the nomination after Graham Platner dropped out, donated $3,500. Jordan Wood, another candidate in that short secondary race, donated the personal maximum.

Jackson, a union supporter, was also backed by several union PACs with tens of thousands in donations.