A political action committee (PAC) founded by the Maine Education Association this week spent $75,500 on digital advertisements in support of six Democratic candidates running for State Senate this November.

According to campaign finance records, Citizens Who Support Maine’s Public Schools, a political spending arm of Maine’s teachers’ union, bought $75,500 worth of digital ads from the public relations firm Berlin Rosen on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

The independent expenditure was made in support of six Democratic candidates currently running for the Maine Senate, with amounts spent on each candidate being about $12,500.

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The six candidates supported by the digital ad campaign are:

• Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec), running for reelection in District 14;
• Sen. Michael Tipping (D-Penobscot), running for reelection in District 8;
• Rep. Raegan Larochelle (D-Augusta), leaving the House to run for Senate District 15;
• Sen. Chip Curry (D-Waldo), running for reelection in District 11;
• Former Rep. Bettyann Sheats (D), running for Senate District 20;
• Vaughan McLaughlin (D), running for Senate District 1.

Filings with the Maine Ethics Commission show that the Maine Education Association’s Citizens Who Support Maine’s Public Schools PAC has spent nearly $175,000 total during the 2024 election cycle, and currently has about $70,000 cash on hand.

The PAC describes itself as “citizens who support Maine’s public schools,” and state that they support “issues and candidates who support public education.”

The Maine Education Association has endorsed Kamala Harris (D) for president, Angus King (I) for U.S. Senator, and Chellie Pingree (D) and Jared Golden (D) for Maine’s first and second congressional districts respectively.

The teachers’ union has also endorsed candidates in all of Maine’s 151 House and 35 Senate races.

Out of those 186 endorsements, just three were of Republican candidates, six were of independents, and the remaining 177 endorsements went to Democratic candidates.

The Maine Education Association is Maine’s largest labor union, followed by the Maine Service Employees Association, which represents state workers.