Republican Sen. Susan Collins has accepted millions in campaign cash from wealthy donors and powerful figures linked to Jeffrey Epstein—an awkward revelation as she fights to hold on to her Senate seat in the midterms.
Federal filings show that Collins and her political committees have spent years taking money from people with ties to the notorious child sex trafficker, including Jay Lefkowitz, the lawyer who helped secure Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal, and Trump ally Leon Black, who paid Epstein $158 million for “tax, estate planning, and other related services.”
Others with links to Epstein—including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, sports and entertainment mogul Casey Wasserman, and Palantir boss Peter Thiel—have also donated to Collins’ campaign.
The revelations open another front in the battle for Maine, where Democrats see an opportunity to flip one of the country’s most competitive seats.
“After 30 years in D.C., Susan Collins has stopped fighting for Mainers and taken the side of the billionaires and the Epstein class,” said Misha Linnehan, spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party.
“That’s why she voted against releasing the Epstein files, and it’s why Jeffrey Epstein’s wealthy associates are funding her campaign.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Collins, a GOP veteran of three decades, who occasionally breaks ranks with Trump.
Last week, for instance, she spoke out against the president’s decision to ramp up another trade war with Canada, which borders Maine.
“She’s not my best friend at all,” Trump said of Collins earlier this year. “But she’s a sane person, and she’s a person that never missed a vote in many years.”
Collins voted against procedural efforts to force the release of the Epstein files in 2025, before later supporting legislation requiring their release.
Federal election filings show that Wasserman, who reportedly flew on Epstein’s plane and exchanged sexually explicit emails with his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, donated about $10,000 to Collins’ campaign.
Bill Gates, who in June testified on Capitol Hill that Epstein tried to blackmail him over his extramarital affairs, gave Collins $24,300.
Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who was associated with Epstein through New York’s exclusive Core Club, has given $3 million to Pine Tree Results, the super PAC supporting Collins.
In addition, Elon Musk gave Collins $2,800; Thiel donated $2,300; and Lefkowitz donated a relatively small amount of $334 to Collins’ campaign in 2007—the same year Epstein was negotiating the controversial non-prosecutorial agreement that allowed him to avoid federal charges over the sexual abuse of minors.
Black, the former Apollo Global Management boss whose son Ben now works for the Trump administration, has also contributed $2,800 to Collins.
Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to be released from any potential claims arising out of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ investigation into the disgraced financier and sex offender.
None of the donors has been charged with any wrongdoing related to Epstein, but the figures nonetheless come as the battle for Maine intensifies after a tumultuous few months.
Democrat Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate and fifth-generation logger, is now running against Collins after progressive firebrand Graham Platner withdrew from the race amid a series of sex scandals.
Jackson is trying to turn the contest into a choice between a working-class Maine Democrat and a Republican incumbent increasingly dependent on wealthy national donors, and some polls suggest the race is tightening.
A Fox News poll from earlier this month had Jackson leading Collins 48 percent to 46 percent, while the RealClearPolitics average currently gives Jackson a 48.3 percent to 46 percent advantage.
But the race is still far from decided. Collins has enormous advantages in fundraising, incumbency, and name recognition, and she has repeatedly outperformed the Republican presidential ticket in Maine.
“Mainers are known for their work ethic, and they deserve a Senator who works just as hard for them,” she said in June as she cast her 10,000th consecutive Senate roll call vote, extending the unbroken voting streak she began in 1997.
But Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said: “Mainers can see right through Susan Collins’ political games after she rubber-stamped Trump’s devastating agenda and voted to block the Epstein files release to protect her Epstein class donors.”
“Now, Susan Collins is facing record disapproval ratings thanks to her track record of prioritizing special interests and billionaires over working people, and Mainers will vote her out in November.”
