Over the past two years, more than $22 million in donations from people listing Massachusetts addresses went to Senate candidates nationwide, according to a tally by The Boston Globe. The figure covers contributions to campaigns and associated victory funds, not the full range of political spending. Recipients ranged from Georgia to Alaska, and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff narrowly led Salem Representative Seth Moulton among the candidates receiving donations from Massachusetts residents.
The Boston Globe said its tally counted donations made directly to campaigns or their associated victory funds. Millions more from Massachusetts donors went separately to party committees and independent PACs, outside the $22 million figure. Senate candidates in Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Texas, and Alaska each received more than $1 million from Massachusetts givers, the Globe reported.
What the donation tally captures
For itemized individual contributions, the Federal Election Commission requires campaigns to disclose a contributor’s mailing address. An address-based total therefore reflects the location reported to campaigns, not a donor’s broader political identity; the Globe’s tally also excludes money sent to party committees and independent PACs. The FEC distinguishes independent expenditures from campaign receipts: they are not subject to contribution limits, and the benefiting candidate’s campaign has no reporting obligation for them, according to its guidance on ways to support federal candidates. A separate example of national attention to Senate contests came in Georgia’s 2020 runoffs, when Roll Call reported that outside groups from both parties spent millions on ads. That was outside-group spending, not a measure of out-of-state individual donations to campaigns.
Ossoff Edges Out a Hometown Challenger
Ossoff raised more than $130 million over the full election cycle, including more than $33 million in just the final three months, according to the Globe's analysis. His pull with Massachusetts donors specifically was close: he just edged out Salem Representative Seth Moulton, who raised $2.66 million from Massachusetts residents for his unsuccessful primary challenge to incumbent Senator Ed Markey. Markey himself still finished fifth on the overall list of Senate candidates, pulling in $1.75 million from the state's donors despite facing that intraparty fight.
Other Democratic Senate contenders also found generous support from the Bay State. Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown received $2.2 million from Massachusetts donors, and North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper collected $1.9 million, per the same Globe analysis. New Hampshire Representative Chris Pappas, running for Senate, brought in $1.4 million from Massachusetts givers.
Even Maine's Collins Felt the Reach
Maine Senator Susan Collins ranked 10th among all recipients of Massachusetts money, collecting more than $590,000 from the state despite being a Republican in a heavily Democratic-leaning donor pool. Candidates seeking to unseat her fared even better: with a chaotic Democratic primary field in Maine, voters there sent nearly $1.5 million combined to the challengers running against her, the Globe's reporting found.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico posted fundraising the Globe described as record-breaking, hauling in more than $130 million for his campaign, including $64 million in the final three months alone. That scale of giving fits into a broader pattern the nonpartisan group OpenSecrets flagged well before Election Day: the group projected total 2026 midterm spending would reach $11.9 billion, a record for a midterm cycle, with outside spending alone expected to hit $3.9 billion, an 85 percent jump from the $2 billion spent in 2022.
Massachusetts House Races Stayed Local, Too
Money did not only leave the state. Massachusetts donors also favored their own House candidates, with contenders across the country receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Democrat Dan Koh raised more than $2.2 million from individual Massachusetts donors in his bid to replace Moulton, while Newton Representative Jake Auchincloss raised more than $1 million despite not facing a competitive race, the Globe reported.
The giving spree unfolded against the backdrop of a midterm that reshaped the national map. The Globe reported that Democrats flipped more than 40 House seats and seven Senate seats, with those numbers poised to grow as the party led in some races still uncalled as of November 3. Democrats also flipped at least five governorships and several state legislatures, according to the same report — a level of nationwide power the party had not enjoyed since Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008.
The Globe also reported that the stakes felt personal for some donors beyond Massachusetts. Jenny Dworkin, a 56-year-old Moulton supporter from Cambridge, told the newspaper that her neighbors were sending money to Texas, reflecting how national the appetite for giving had become even among people backing a local candidate.
