Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins put a $900,000 loan toward his effort to return to Congress, this time representing Florida.
The New Yorker-turned-Marco Island resident, one of several Republicans looking to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, teased a run for much of 2025 but only formally filed his candidacy in Florida’s 19th Congressional District in January. His current federal committee, Collins for Congress, organized in June with wife Mary Sue Collins as Treasurer.
Now, he has reported $905,000 in fundraising for the race, all of it out of pocket. In addition to the $900,000 loan to the campaign from Chris Collins, he also donated $5,000 cash.
That’s less than the $1 million that GOP Primary opponent Jim Schwartzel, Sun Broadcasting President, put into his own campaign last year. It’s also under a third of the $3.1 million personal investment by Republican candidate Jim Oberweis, a former Illinois state Senator and dairy business owner.
But it means Collins has put more resources in his coffers than the total 2025 fundraising for other Primary competitors including Madison Cawthorn, Stephen Elliott, philanthropist Ola Hawatmeh, conservative writer Catalina Lauf, business owner Dylan Modarelli, Marine veteran Mike Pedersen, Linda Sawyer and Richard Youschak.
Collins is the first candidate in the field to file fundraising reports for the first quarter of 2026.
He already spent a significant amount with high-profile television ads that aired in the district during the Super Bowl. Ultimately, the campaign paid nearly $600,000 in various campaign expenses over the first three months of the year, and closed the quarter with around $306,000 in cash on hand.
Collins previously served in Congress representing a district in New York. He was the first sitting member of Congress to endorse Trump’s successful 2016 run for President. But he resigned from Congress early as he faced insider trading charges. Trump later pardoned Collins shortly before the end of his first term as President.
