DATE: May 27, 2026

TO: Interested Parties

FR: End Citizens United

RE: REVOLVING DOOR REPUBLICANS: Ethics Issues and Shady Financial Dealings will Sink GOP Senate Candidates at the Ballot Box in 2026

Across the country, Republican Senate candidates are being dogged by their troubling records of shady financial dealings, blatant conflicts of interest, and self-enrichment schemes. From cashing in on insider connections to spinning through the revolving door, there is a clear pattern of corruption among top GOP Senate candidates. – and their records of ethics abuses are major vulnerabilities that will sink them at the ballot box in 2026. 

In battleground states, Republican Senate candidates share a history of leveraging public office, political influence, and insider connections for personal gain, often at the expense of the people they’re running to serve.

“A disturbing number of Republican Senate candidates have spent their political careers leveraging their influence, cashing in on their connections, and abusing the public trust for personal gain instead of fighting for their constituents,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Voters expect elected officials to fight for hardworking families, not to cozy up to special interests and then walk through the revolving door to cash in. We’re committed to holding these Revolving Door Republicans accountable for putting themselves and their donors ahead of the people they’re supposed to serve.”

Here are the facts about the Top 5 “Revolving Door” Republican Senate Candidates and their history of corruption, conflicts of interest, and cashing in on political connections: 

ALASKA – Sen. Dan Sullivan

Corrupt, self-serving Senator DAN SULLIVAN has become incredibly wealthy during his tenure in the U.S. Senate, backing policies that would benefit a multinational chemical company that he holds a personal stake in, and raking in campaign donations from the company’s top executives.

Reporting shows Sullivan has “routinely” backed policies in the U.S. Senate that would “benefit the financial interests” of the cancer-causing chemicals company, while serving on a “top pick” Senate committee that oversaw the company’s interests. Sullivan holds up to $5 million in stock in the company, and the company’s employees and PAC have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into backing Sullivan’s campaigns – his second-largest contributor.

All the while, Sullivan has looked out for himself and his special interest backers at the expense of Alaskans. Sullivan even broke a “conflicts-of-interest and transparency law” cracking down on insider trading by Members of Congress by failing to properly disclose stock sales worth tens of thousands of dollars. 

MAINE – Sen. Susan Collins

When Senator SUSAN COLLINS was first elected in 1996, she pledged to only serve two terms in the Senate. Instead, she has spent 30 years using her office to protect powerful insiders – and enrich the network around her – at Mainers’ expense. After voting to advance the corrupt GOP tax bill which let the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits expire,, Collins accepted nearly $120,000 from PACs that were “tied to major health insurers – the same companies now raising premiums on Mainers by as much as 23% in 2026.” That’s on top of the nearly half a million dollars Collins has taken from Big Pharma during her career, while she took “key votes that have benefited the interests of one of the nation’s top corporate lobbies.” Collins even had $2 million funneled to support her re-election by a private equity billionaire one day before she cast a decisive vote to greenlight a bill that extended tax breaks “treasured by the owners of private equity firms.” 

Collins has also opposed bipartisan legislation to ban Members of Congress and their spouses from trading individual stocks, even “run[ning] from questions about stock holdings” after reporting showed her portfolio was “eighth among members of Congress for growth” in 2024. Additionally, Collins has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on “lavish meals and travels” in the Senate, “including at five-star properties and other extravagant resorts.” 

MICHIGAN – Former Rep. Mike Rogers 

After former U.S. Representative and Florida resident MIKE ROGERS left Congress, he made it his goal to “earn considerable amounts of money” and pursue “something more lucrative” after years of holding public office. 

He succeeded. Rogers made tens of millions by leveraging connections he’d made while in office. His immense wealth was made, in part, by working for the same companies he used to regulate in Congress. Reporting shows Rogers made “hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth from companies that partnered with Chinese firms” and “almost $100K advising a company that helped the Maduro regime spy on its citizens.”

Even while serving in Congress, Rogers was handsomely rewarded for advancing his donors’ interests. During his tenure, he took more than $5 million from corporate special interests and built a reputation as a reliable vote for them. After repeatedly “vot[ing] against allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers,” he received “more than $1 million in contributions” from Big Pharma. It should come as no surprise, then, that Rogers also “voted against reining in special interests” and opposed reforms aimed at increasing transparency in political spending during his time in Congress.

NEW HAMPSHIRE – Former Senator John Sununu 

After losing his Senate seat in 2008, former Senator JOHN E. SUNUNU wasted little time cashing in on his time and connections in Washington. 

The defeated Sununu quickly went to work for a “top lobbying firm that listed Pfizer, Gilead, Merck, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson as clients, among others,” giving him direct ties to the pharmaceutical industry he once oversaw in Congress. When asked about his connections to Big Pharma and how it could influence his votes in the Senate, Sununu tried to hide his ties to the industry, saying that “his only experience in the pharmaceutical industry was on the board of a small startup company.” 

Sununu “quickly attained some high-paying jobs since leaving office.” After he voted to bail out Wall Street, he sat on a government “watchdog panel that oversees the financial sector rescue fund,” and then he later joined the board of a “firm affiliated with a bank that has received $3 billion from the fund.” Altogether, Sununu made a fortune after “cash[ing] in” through the revolving door to sit on the corporate boards of industries he helped regulate in the Senate. 

NORTH CAROLINA – Big Oil Lobbyist Michael Whatley 

D.C. insider and Big Oil lobbyist MICHAEL WHATLEY is finding that his extensive lobbying career will “haunt him in his bid to be North Carolina’s next U.S. senator.” 

Whatley’s lobbying career may be an asset for Washington Republicans, but for North Carolinians, his “more than a decade lobbying for oil and natural gas companies and their allies” raises serious red flags about whether he’s more interested in boosting his stock portfolio than doing what’s right for North Carolina. Whatley lobbied for offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, which was “met with bipartisan opposition.” 

And already, Whatley has been caught promoting policies on the campaign trail that would benefit his bottom line. Whatley cheered on the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela, then saw a “windfall,” with his Big Oil stock holdings boosting in value as much as $63,000 in a single weekend.