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Project Curia

Financing

U.S. Senator · OR

Jeff Merkley

DemocratSenate Class 2Term through January 2027

Funding profile · 2015–2020 term

45% of the money Merkley raised came from small donors.

More grassroots-funded than 95% of the Senate.

Merkley raised $11.5M across the full six-year Senate term (2015–2020), and ended the period with $3.8M cash on hand. Here is where the money came from.

45%from small donors
Small donors
45%$5.2M
Large donors
43%$4.9M
Bundled
1%$0.1M
PACs
7%$0.8M
Other
4%$0.5M

Against the senate

How Merkley compares to the typical member.

Small-donor share
45%vs 19% senate median
PAC share
7%vs 14% senate median

Who has a stake in Merkley

The organizations behind the money.

Merkley's largest organized backing comes from League Of Conservation Voters Action Fund. That counts the group's own PAC check plus the individual donations it bundled, not just the direct check.

$733K in PAC money not itemized by group

Merkley collected $733K of PAC money through a joint fundraising committee, which pools contributions and transfers them as a lump sum. It is counted in the organized total above, but FEC filings do not itemize which PACs it came from at the campaign level, so it is not attributed to a named organization here.

Money organized for Merkley

League Of Conservation Voters Action Fund

$49K

Who it funds, across Congress

99% Democrats · 0% Republicans · $939K to 148 members

Jstreetpac$26K

J Street's PAC, a liberal pro-Israel group that backs candidates supporting a two-state solution, often a counterweight to AIPAC.

Who it funds, across Congress

100% Democrats · 0% Republicans · $4.0M to 144 members

Thrivent Financial For Lutherans Employee PAC$5K

Who it funds, across Congress

50% Democrats · 50% Republicans · $514K to 105 members

American Veterinary Medical Association PAC$4K

Who it funds, across Congress

48% Democrats · 52% Republicans · $543K to 159 members

National Association Of Broadcasters PAC$4K

The National Association of Broadcasters' PAC, representing TV and radio station owners.

Who it funds, across Congress

47% Democrats · 53% Republicans · $1.5M to 255 members

What is organized money?

An organization reaches a member two ways. Its own PAC writes a direct check. And it bundles: it gathers individual donations from its supporters and routes them through its conduit. Both count here as one “organized” total. The bundled part is already inside the individual giving shown in the funding mix above. Here it is regrouped by the organization that gathered it, so you can see who did the organizing.

The same money, by industry

Which industries have a stake.

The same organized money, grouped by the industry of the organization that moved it. It shows the interests behind Merkley's backing, not just the individual groups.

$26KPro-Israel
$6KFinance
$6KTech
$4KHealth
$3KLabor

Plus $56K from organizations whose FEC name did not sort into an industry.

FEC filings, 2015–2020 term · as of August 2026 · showing the top 5 funders of 18 organizations with a stake

About this data

FEC-disclosed receipts for the 2015–2020 term. This is the disclosed money only. Spending by outside groups that do not reveal their donors, the dark money that set a record in 2024, never appears in these figures.

Every percentage here is a share of all receipts, not of individual contributions only. So the small-donor share counts transfers, loans, and other money in its base, and can read higher than figures that divide only by individual money.

84%want dark money disclosed

Support for requiring the groups that spend on elections to name their donors, across both parties. Congress has not passed the DISCLOSE Act.

Where Merkley stands