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Funding profile

Richard J. Durbin

Democrat · Senator from Illinois

Career totals · 6 elections · 19962026

$47 million

raised by Durbin’s campaigns, everything from 1996 to 2026 added together.

22%

of it came from organized groups rather than from people giving on their own: at least $10.5 million from PACs, plus donations that organizations collected and directed.

$818,000

was spent about Durbin by outside groups. These are ads for or against them that their campaign cannot control, and none of it is part of the money above.

Every number on this page comes from Federal Election Commission filings, read on August 24, 2026. An election still under way keeps raising money, so its figure will have grown since. Check Durbin on FEC.gov

Where the money came from

Everything Durbin’s campaigns have reported raising, split by who gave it.

$47 millionraised
  • Individual donorsMoney given by people, in their own name.65%$30.4 million
  • Political action committeesOrganized groups: company-run committees, unions, trade associations.22%$10.4 million
  • Other sourcesParty transfers, the candidate's own money, loans and smaller categories.13%$6.1 million
Federal Election Commission filings across 6 elections. Percentages may not total 100 because each is rounded.

Money bundled through organizations

Not every “individual” donation arrives on its own. An organization can collect checks from its members, already earmarked for Durbin, and deliver them in a bundle. The law counts that as individual money, but the organization still chose where it went.

$63,000

reached Durbin this way, <1% of everything they raised from individuals. Each donation came from a real person. The organization picked who got it.

  • JStreetPAC$63,000

We can only count the organizations we have measured, so the real figure could be higher than this, never lower. Bundling is legal and widely used, and appearing here is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Who gave the most

Committee contributions from the 2024 and 2026 election periods, grouped by how the FEC classifies each giver. This covers a slice of the career total, and giving to a campaign is legal and ordinary.

  • Corporation56%$102,000
  • Trade association14%$25,000
  • Labor union5%$9,148
  • Membership organization10%$19,000
  • Corporation without capital stock1%$1,000
  • Unclassified14%$26,000

Which industries

  • Defense & aerospace15% · $10,000
  • Retail & consumer15% · $10,000
  • Technology & telecoms8% · $5,000
  • Other62% · $41,000

The FEC records that a committee is a corporation; it does not record its industry. Those labels are ours, kept in a published list anyone can check. Where we have not labeled a giver we say “Other” rather than guessing.

Largest committee givers

  1. 1Kellanova Political Action CommitteeOther · Corporation$10,000
  2. 2Way to Lead PACOther · Unclassified$10,000
  3. 3Faspac Fareway Stores Inc PACOther · Corporation$6,500
  4. 4Applied Research Associates, Inc. Political Action Committee (Arapac)Defense & aerospace · Corporation$5,000
  5. 5National Retail Federation RetailpacRetail & consumer · Trade association$5,000
Show all 10 giversShow fewer
  1. 6Verizon Communications, Inc. Political Action Committee (Verizon PAC)Technology & telecoms · Corporation$5,000
  2. 7The Options Clearing CorporationOther · Corporation$5,000
  3. 8Gridiron-PACOther · Unclassified$5,000
  4. 9Televisaunivision, Inc.Other · Corporation$5,000
  5. 10Hy-Vee Inc Employees' Political Action CommitteeOther · Corporation$5,000

“Unclassified” means the FEC records no organization type for that committee, which usually means a leadership PAC. We show it as unclassified rather than guessing which industry it belongs to.

Money spent about this member

Outside groups, usually super PACs, may spend without limit on ads for or against a candidate, as long as they do not coordinate with the campaign. Durbin has no legal control over any of it.

This is not a donation. Nobody gave this money to Durbin. It was spent on advertising about Durbin, and money spent against a candidate is plainly not funding them. So it never gets added to the figures above.

$818,000

has been spent for or against Durbin by outside groups. $23,000 supported Durbin; $795,000 opposed Durbin.

Largest outside spenders

Summed across 3 elections, using the Commission's aggregated totals so amended filings and 24-hour notices are not double-counted.

Spent supporting

$23,000

Ads urging people to vote for this member. Still not their money, and they cannot direct how it is spent.

  • AMERICAS PAC$23,000
  • HUMANE SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE FUND$308

Spent opposing

$795,000

Ads urging people to vote against this member. This money was spent to defeat them.

  • AMERICAS PAC$366,000
  • OUR AMERICA FUND$288,000
  • RESTORATION PAC$77,000
  • TEA PARTY PATRIOTS CITIZENS FUND$56,000
Show all 6 groupsShow fewer
  • PATRIOT VOICES PAC$4,116
  • CONSERVATIVE WARCHEST PAC$3,520

Election by election

The career figures above are the sum of these elections. Each row links to the Commission’s page for that election, where the numbers match line for line.

ElectionRaisedFrom PACsOutside spending
2026in progress$2.4 million$364,000 15%$9
2020$10.5 million$2.2 million 21%$77,000
2014$10.3 million$2.5 million 25%$741,000
2008$11.3 million$2.4 million 21%none
2002$7.7 million$1.8 million 23%none
1996$4.8 million$1.2 million 26%none

Raised is everything the campaign took in for that election. From PACs is the slice of it given by political action committees. Outside spending is what other groups spent on ads about the race, for and against—it is not part of “Raised”. An election marked in progress is still raising money, so its figures are not final.

We never publish the names of individual donors, and anything we cannot source stays off the page. The methodology explains every such choice.