Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republican Jonathan Bush are continuing to lead fundraising in their respective parties ahead of the June primaries in the race for Maine governor.

Pingree, a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and official in Gov. Janet Mills’ administration, has raised $1.9 million and has just under $900,000 in cash on hand, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.

Bush, a healthcare entrepreneur who is the cousin of former President George W. Bush, has raised $1.3 million, not counting an additional $876,500 in loans to the campaign from the candidate.

Bush has also spent more than any candidate from either party so far, having racked up $1.6 million in expenses to date. He finished the latest reporting period, which ended April 21, with $540,000 in cash on hand.

The reports show who is best positioned to control the message in the final month-plus until the June 9 primaries. But fundraising success doesn’t guarantee a win at the ballot box.

Five Democrats and seven Republicans are running to succeed Mills, who is term-limited and running for U.S. Senate, and so far there are no clear frontrunners in either race, both of which are likely to be determined by who voters pick as their second or third choice on the ranked-choice ballot.

PINGREE, BELLOWS LEAD DEMS

On the Democratic side, Pingree, who also led fundraising at the end of the last reporting period in January, continues to have an edge over her competitors. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is second in terms of money raised, having collected $1.58 million total. The two were neck-and-neck in the latest period, having each collected about $510,000 between January and April.

Bellows has about $725,000 in cash on hand.

Former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah, who has led polling in the race, has raised about $830,000 to date and spent about half that, according to filings. His campaign said, however, that Shah has actually raised more than $1 million, but the full total was not reflected due to errors with the state’s filing system.

A $20,000 donation that Shah made to his own campaign was listed using his former address in Chicago. The candidate has faced residency questions because he lived and voted out of state recently, but his campaign attributed the address to a data entry error.

Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson has raised $850,000 but spent more than $600,000, leaving him with about $225,000 in cash on hand.

Angus King III, a renewable energy entrepreneur who is the son of U.S. Sen. Angus King, has collected just under $700,000 and has about $300,000 in cash on hand.

The reports due to the state Tuesday provide insight into the money raised and spent by candidates, but they don’t paint a full picture of spending on the governor’s race. Close to $3 million was spent by outside groups on candidates from both parties in the first quarter of 2026.

Among Democrats, Pingree benefitted the most from outside spending last quarter, according to reports filed with the state earlier this month. Maine Conservation Voters, an environmental group, reported spending more than $200,000 in support of Pingree.

But other Democrats could soon be catching up.

According to the political spending tracker AdImpact, Working Mainers First, a political action committee supporting Jackson, has spent more than $240,000 on advertising.

REPUBLICANS SPEND HEAVY ON OWN CAMPAIGNS

Among Republicans, Bush has a significant fundraising advantage, though he hasn’t led any polling to date. Bobby Charles, a lawyer, consultant and former U.S. assistant secretary of state, led recent polls from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research.

Charles also won a straw poll conducted at the Maine GOP State Convention last weekend. He received 269 votes, followed by former fitness franchise executive Ben Midgley, who received 230. Bush was third with 96 votes.

Charles is second in terms of money raised, having collected just over $780,000 to date, not including $200,000 in loans to his own campaign. He has about $380,000 in cash on hand.

Garrett Mason, who entered the race late, in January, reported raising only $162,000 to date, not including a $50,000 loan to his own campaign. That total put him near the bottom of the Republican field in terms of fundraising. Mason has benefited immensely from outside spending, however, with the Restoration of America PAC Maine having already spent more than $2 million to support his campaign as of late last month.

Three other Republican contenders — Midgley, real estate broker David Jones and medical technology entrepreneur Owen McCarthy — have all raised less than $500,000 to date, though Midgley has also loaned his campaign an additional $750,000, putting him at the top of the field in terms of cash on hand.

Robert Wessels, a former selectman in the town of Paris, has raised just over $50,000 and has $13,500 cash on hand.

Rick Bennett, a former Maine Republican Party chairman who is running as an independent and is expected to make the November ballot, has raised $617,000 to date and has about $115,000 in cash on hand.