Follow the money

Paid for by Washington.
Not New Hampshire.

Only 8 cents of every dollar raised and spent to elect Stefany Shaheen can be traced to New Hampshire. The rest comes from out-of-state super PACs backed by billionaires like Reid Hoffman, plus registered lobbyists and Washington politicians.

New Hampshire: $930,468Everyone else: $10.5 million
The billionaires backing her

She attacks billionaires. Billionaires are paying to elect her.

  1. Reid Hoffman
    California · LinkedIn co-founder · Appears in the Epstein files
    $1,000,000
  2. Amos Hostetter Jr.
    Massachusetts · Cable TV fortune
    $157,000
  3. JB Pritzker
    Illinois · Governor, Hyatt heir
    $107,000
  4. Rob Hale
    Massachusetts · Granite Telecommunications
    $100,000
  5. Michael Bloomberg
    New York · Bloomberg LP
    $7,000
Where each billionaire’s money went
  • Hoffman: $1,000,000 to New Engagement PAC, which then sent $3 million to New Leadership PAC, the biggest spender for her. His contacts with Jeffrey Epstein appear in released Epstein records; he has apologized for the association and denies any wrongdoing (Fortune).
  • Hostetter: $100,000 to Article One PAC, $50,000 to New Leadership PAC, and $7,000, the legal maximum, to her campaign.
  • Pritzker: $100,000 to Article One PAC and $7,000 to her campaign.
  • Hale: $100,000 to New Leadership PAC.
  • Bloomberg: $7,000 to her campaign.

Also: DK Crown Holdings, a DraftKings company, gave New Leadership PAC $250,000. Sources: FEC receipts for Hoffman, Article One PAC, New Leadership PAC and her campaign; Forbes 400 (Boston Globe). Hoffman, Pritzker and Hostetter money went to super PACs that spend in other races too; the records don’t show which donor paid for which ad.

More of her record

The headlines

Who’s paying

$8.4 million from groups based outside New Hampshire

Not one outside group spending to elect her is based in New Hampshire. The biggest are headquartered in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

GroupBased inSpent to elect her
New Leadership PACFoxboro, Mass.$3,450,493
Article One PACWashington, D.C.$2,110,578
American Democracy CommitteeWashington, D.C.$752,401
LCV Victory FundWashington, D.C.$605,594
The No Kings PACWashington, D.C.$594,109
Ready for the FightWashington, D.C.$294,502
VPPSeattle, Wash.$278,858

Includes ads supporting her and ads attacking her primary rival Maura Sullivan and Republican Anthony DiLorenzo. Source: FEC independent expenditure reports, each ad counted once, through mid-October 2026.

Much of it can’t be traced at all. These super PACs took millions from groups that don’t disclose their own donors: New Engagement Fund ($2.75 million in September alone), Opportunity Forward Alliance, the Guzman Foundation, Article One Action Fund and EDW Foundation. About $3.9 million of Article One PAC’s $4.9 million came from groups like these. Voters can’t know who is behind that money.

Sources: FEC receipts for New Engagement PAC · Article One PAC · New Leadership PAC · American Democracy Committee

Show the detailed super PAC records
WhenWhat New Leadership PAC spent onTargetAmount
Aug. 26 – Sept. 4TV, digital and mail adsAgainst Maura Sullivan, Democratic primary rival$2,723,527
Sept. 2 – 24Phone banking and TV adsSupporting Stefany Shaheen$326,016
Sept. 15 – 24TV adsAgainst Anthony DiLorenzo$400,950
TotalNH-01$3,450,493

Source: FEC independent expenditure reports, New Leadership PAC, through Sept. 24, 2026. Ads reported in both 24-hour notices and monthly reports are counted once.

Billionaires gave her campaign the legal maximum. Michael Bloomberg (New York), Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Amos Hostetter (Massachusetts; Forbes 400, $4.5 billion) each gave her campaign $7,000, the most the law allows. Barbara Hostetter gave another $7,000. Pritzker and Amos Hostetter also gave $100,000 each to Article One PAC, below. At the Oct. 19 debate she promised to roll back “the tax breaks for billionaires.”

Sources: FEC receipts for Bloomberg · Pritzker · Hostetter · Article One PAC donors

Show who funds these super PACs
Where the money came from. As the anti-Sullivan ads began, a DC super PAC, New Engagement PAC, sent New Leadership PAC $3 million (Aug. 25 and 31). New Engagement PAC's largest donor was LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman: $1 million on Aug. 13. It also took $870,000 on Aug. 27 from New Engagement Fund, a group that does not report its donors to the FEC. New Leadership PAC’s own donors include billionaire Rob Hale ($100,000; Forbes 400) and DK Crown Holdings, a DraftKings company ($250,000, its largest corporate check).

Sources: Hoffman contribution · New Engagement PAC transfers · New Leadership PAC donors (FEC) · Forbes 400 list (Boston Globe) · DraftKings subsidiaries (SEC)

The second-largest: Article One PAC, $2.1 million. A Washington, DC super PAC formed in December 2025 spent $2,110,578 supporting her from June through the primary, its biggest single race so far. Most of its money, about $3.9 million of $4.9 million raised, came from three groups that don't report their own donors to the FEC: Article One Action Fund, Opportunity Forward Alliance and the Guzman Foundation. Its individual donors include Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker ($100,000), Amos Hostetter ($100,000), Glen Tullman ($175,000) and Laurence Tosi ($25,000). Each of the four also gave her campaign the legal maximum of $7,000. The records don't show which donors' money paid for the ads supporting her.

Sources: Article One PAC donors · Article One PAC spending · her campaign's donors (FEC)

American Democracy Committee, $752,401: one super PAC funding another. A DC super PAC registered in May 2026 spent $752,401 supporting her on Sept. 1–3, days before the primary. Its report filed Oct. 18 shows where the money came from: $760,000 from The No Kings PAC (Sept. 1–2), a super PAC with the same treasurer that also spent at least $594,109 supporting her directly in August, and $500,000 from EDW Foundation of Washington, DC (Sept. 22), which does not report its donors to the FEC.

Sources: American Democracy Committee donors · its filings · The No Kings PAC spending (FEC)

She calls her opponent a “MAGA mega-donor working for corporate special interests.” Her own race is being lifted by millions from an out-of-state super PAC, with a billionaire’s $1 million behind its biggest donor. (Stefany Shaheen, Facebook video, June 29, 2026)

Super PACs are legal and must operate independently of the candidate. Nothing here suggests the Shaheen campaign coordinated with them. New Leadership PAC and Article One PAC also spend in other races. Outside groups have also spent for DiLorenzo, including America PAC and MAGA Inc., far less than has been spent for her. Totals count each ad once, through mid-October 2026.

Washington insiders

Lobbyists and politicians, not Granite Staters

$158,856
From 110+ registered DC lobbyists, for Meta, Google, Pfizer, Boeing, Amazon and Lockheed Martin
$112,500
From 36 PACs and campaigns of members of Congress, including Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries and Hillary Clinton’s PAC
$10,000
From her mother’s own leadership PAC
A campaign-finance expert told the Union Leader her lobbyist haul was “the biggest I’ve heard of in this cycle” for an open seat. The givers include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Sens. Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor, all now lobbyists. Her primary rival got $24,175 from lobbyists. She got more than six times that.

Sources: Union Leader, Aug. 28, 2026; FEC committee receipts. See the full list of 36 congressional committees.

Her own words

What she says about money in politics

She said · WMUR interview, primary campaign
“It matters who is supporting our campaign and who we are going to fight for.”
The record

She said it while attacking her primary rival for out-of-state money. 57% of her own itemized campaign money came from out of state, and every outside group backing her is based outside New Hampshire.

Source: Union Leader, Aug. 28, 2026; FEC

She proposed
A lifetime ban on former members of Congress becoming lobbyists.
The record

Her campaign took money from former senators who became lobbyists, and from more than 110 registered lobbyists in all.

Source: Union Leader, Aug. 28, 2026

She said · June 29, 2026
Her opponent is a “MAGA mega-donor working for corporate special interests.”
The record

$8.4 million in outside money, much of it from groups that hide their donors, has been spent to elect her.

Source: her Facebook video; FEC

How we counted

  • The 8%: $930,468 in itemized donations from New Hampshire residents through Sept. 30, out of about $11.4 million raised by her campaign ($3.0 million through Sept. 30) and spent by outside groups ($8.4 million).
  • Small donations: donors who give $200 or less aren’t reported by state. Her campaign has $527,496 in such donations. If every one of those dollars came from New Hampshire, the state’s share would still be about 13%.
  • Her campaign’s view: it says more than 3,300 Granite Staters have given and that New Hampshire is its largest source of money. By state, that’s true: New Hampshire gave 43% of itemized donations, more than any other single state.
  • Super PACs are legal and must operate independently of candidates. Nothing here suggests her campaign coordinated with them. Outside groups have also spent for Anthony DiLorenzo, far less than for her.