Leaders of the PAC: Which 2012 US Senate Incumbents are Most Reliant on PAC Donations?

Tom Carper, Ben Nelson, and Joe Manchin have received the largest percentage of funds from political committees this cycle

For the 2012 election, 25 incumbent U.S. Senators are running out of the 33 Senate races that will be held across the nation.

While it is unclear at this stage which races will turn into the kind of fundraising battle royal of an Al Franken vs. Norm Coleman (Minnesota, 2008), most candidates are willing and eager to accept contributions from political committees.

The 2012 incumbents who have netted the most PAC money overall in the cycle to date are Utah Republican Orrin Hatch ($2.54 million), Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson ($2.44 million), Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow ($2.21 million), and Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown ($2.02 million).

Only five of the 25 incumbents running for reelection next year have raised less than $1 million from political committees - and two of them were only elected within the last 12 months: Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington ($53K), independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont ($249K), Republican Dean Heller of Nevada ($598K), Republican Dick Lugar of Indiana ($722K), and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin ($732K).

However, an examination of the percentage of PAC money each candidate has secured as a total of all funds raised finds the top of the leader board shifts somewhat.

A quick glance at those most reliant on PAC funds reveals senators who are representing many of the nation's least populated states: Democrat Tom Carper from Delaware at #1 (59.2 percent), Ben Nelson from Nebraska at #2 (55.5 percent), Joe Manchin of West Virginia at #3 (46.4 percent), Republican John Barrasso of Wyoming at #4 (45.6 percent), Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine at #5 (45.3 percent), Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah at #6 (43.0 percent), and Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi at #7 (42.4 percent).

Those senators representing more populated states appear in the middle and lower end of the list: Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California at #10 (31.3 percent), Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio at #16 (25.4 percent), Democrat Bob Casey of Pennsylvania at #17 (24.4 percent), Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida at #18 (22.5 percent), Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey at #21 (18.1 percent), and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York at #23 (13.8 percent).

Carper (59.2 percent) and Ben Nelson (55.5 percent) are the only two 2012 incumbents who have raised over half of their money in the cycle to date from political committees, while Washington's Maria Cantwell (0.8 percent) and Vermont's Bernie Sanders (7.1 percent) are the only two to raise less than 10 percent from such funds.

Overall, PACs constitute an average of 26.4 percent of the funds raised by the 25 U.S. Senators running for reelection next year.

Percent of PAC Money in Cycle to Date Donations to U.S. Senate Incumbents Running for Reelection in 2012

Rank	State	Senator	Party	PAC $	Total	% PAC
1	DE	Tom Carper	DEM	$1,601,101	$2,704,402	59.2
2	NE	Ben Nelson	DEM	$2,442,545	$4,404,513	55.5
3	WV	Joe Manchin	DEM	$732,719	$1,578,006	46.4
4	WY	John Barrasso	GOP	$1,059,335	$2,324,019	45.6
5	ME	Olympia Snowe	GOP	$1,432,621	$3,163,411	45.3
6	UT	Orrin Hatch	GOP	$2,549,753	$5,928,803	43.0
7	MS	Roger Wicker	GOP	$1,176,165	$2,773,599	42.4
8	MD	Ben Cardin	DEM	$1,319,072	$3,566,729	37.0
9	RI	Sheldon Whitehouse	DEM	$1,218,916	$3,760,576	32.4
10	CA	Dianne Feinstein	DEM	$1,241,937	$3,969,081	31.3
11	NV	Dean Heller	GOP	$598,850	$1,973,577	30.3
12	MT	Jon Tester	DEM	$1,516,659	$5,067,155	29.9
13	MI	Debbie Stabenow	DEM	$2,210,014	$7,627,258	29.0
14	MN	Amy Klobuchar	DFL	$1,404,192	$5,076,516	27.7
15	MO	Claire McCaskill	DEM	$1,263,238	$4,783,659	26.4
16	OH	Sherrod Brown	DEM	$2,028,831	$7,998,613	25.4
17	PA	Bob Casey	DEM	$1,488,989	$6,095,956	24.4
18	FL	Bill Nelson	DEM	$1,905,536	$8,476,905	22.5
19	TN	Bob Corker	GOP	$1,480,888	$7,802,049	19.0
20	IN	Richard Lugar	GOP	$722,035	$3,811,058	18.9
21	NJ	Bob Menendez	DEM	$1,800,843	$9,947,611	18.1
22	MA	Scott Brown	GOP	$1,309,139	$7,633,644	17.1
23	NY	Kirsten Gillibrand	DEM	$1,108,982	$8,065,256	13.8
24	VT	Bernie Sanders	IND	$249,066	$3,525,460	7.1
25	WA	Maria Cantwell	DEM	$53,592	$6,366,244	0.8
		Total		$33,915,018	$128,424,100	26.4

Note: 'Total' denotes all contributions for the cycle to date excluding loans and transfers from a candidate's other committees. Table compiled by Smart Politics from FEC data through Q3 2011.

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