PORTLAND — Huddled by a downtown lobsterman statue on a cold drizzly afternoon, a handful of nursing union members and activists criticized Sen. Susan Collins for accepting campaign contributions from a technology firm that is helping the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The Maine State Nurses Association said the Republican collected tens of thousands of dollars in donations from Palantir, and urged her to donate that money to groups that help those caught up in Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Campaign finance records show Collins has gotten more than $110,000 from Palantir executives in recent years. Nearly all of those Palantir-associated donations went to Pine Tree Results, a super PAC over which the senator has no control, and with which she is legally prohibited from coordinating.
While executives at the technology firm have donated more than $10,000 directly to the senator’s campaigns in recent years, people associated with Palantir have also donated to Democrats — including more than $7,100 to the Maine Democratic Party.
Activists such as John Costin urged everyone to return donations from the company, which has federal contracts worth billions of dollars.
“We want Palantir out of our government and out of our government’s pockets,” Costin said.
Thursday’s press conference was part of a week of action by Purge Palantir, a coalition of groups urging elected officials to refuse donations from — and end government contracts with — the company that builds artificial intelligence-powered tools for mass data collection and surveillance. A spokesperson for Collins called the event, held outside her district office in downtown Portland, a “political stunt.”
A spokesperson for Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Purge Palantir said the campaign is targeting members of Congress from both parties who have received more than $25,000 in direct campaign donations and contributions to aligned committees.
The group lists Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, as receiving the fifth-most amount of funding from Palantir executives since 2006 — a sum that includes direct donations to campaign committees, plus leadership committees and single-candidate super PACs.
President Donald Trump was the top recipient, bringing in more than $2 million from donors associated with the technology firm. Vice President JD Vance has also gotten millions from Palantir’s co-founder, the conservative megadonor Peter Thiel.
The Maine Republican Party received a $10,000 donation in 2024 from Palantir executive Jacob Helberg, according to federal records.
And Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, received $1,000 back in 2017.
Plenty of Democrats have also received donations tied to Palantir.
The Maine Democratic Party got about $7,100 from Palantir executives Akash Jain and Alex Karp between 2023 and 2024. The money appears to have been earmarked for the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Purge Palantir says that Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and her aligned groups have received $33,000. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, has received about $31,000. And Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, took in about $21,000.
Heinrich and Gallego recently endorsed Graham Platner, a 41-year-old combat veteran and oyster farmer, in the race for Collins’ Senate seat. Platner is running in the Democratic primary against two-term incumbent Gov. Janet Mills.
The Collins campaign noted the donations to Heinrich and Gallego.
“Yet Platner allies are ‘demanding’ Senator Collins return donations from employees of the same company?” said Collins campaign spokesman Shawn Roderick in a written statement. “This political stunt doesn’t pass the straight face test.”
Platner has criticized Palantir at campaign rallies. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Neither Mills nor Platner appear to have received any donations from the Palantir executives spotlighted by Purge Palantir.
Resisting Palantir is a priority for the nurses union, which is backing Platner.
Jessica Richardson, a nurse and patient advocate, acknowledged that Collins cannot make a super PAC donate any of its campaign contributions, but she called on Maine’s senior senator to issue a public statement and donate her own campaign funds to community groups.
“She has influence,” Richardson said. “She can make a statement. She can come out vocally, and she can put her own money where her mouth is.”
