Since 2022, Sen. Jarrett Coleman’s campaign committee has reported raising $2,543,864.18. Seven interests supplied $2,097,266.19 of it — 82.4%.
Every figure here comes from his campaign’s own reports to the Pennsylvania Department of State (filer ID 20220185), through May 4, 2026.
Where the money comes from
| Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Committees funded by billionaire Jeff Yass | $883,621.50 | 34.7% |
| Skill games industry | $701,000.00 | 27.6% |
| Senate Republican campaign committees | $256,004.99 | 10.1% |
| Bachenberg family | $106,940.00 | 4.2% |
| Jaindl family | $80,199.70 | 3.2% |
| Utilities and energy companies | $54,500.00 | 2.1% |
| Wind Creek Bethlehem casino | $15,000.00 | 0.6% |
| These seven combined | $2,097,266.19 | 82.4% |
| Everyone else | $446,597.99 | 17.6% |
Big checks, few small donors
- 48 contributions of $10,000 or more supplied $2,025,921.50 — 79.6% of everything raised.
- 85 contributions under $500 added up to just $13,683.66 — about half of one percent.
For every dollar from a small donor, Coleman raised about $148 from big ones.
The skill games money came in 90 days
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in June 2026 that skill games are illegal slot machines. Coleman says they should face no tax and no regulation.
$690,000 of the industry’s money arrived between October 30, 2025 and January 30, 2026.
- October 30, 2025: the industry’s PAC gave $115,000, and Pace-O-Matic’s president, vice president and chief operating officer each gave a check.
- November 7, 2025: Pace-O-Matic’s chairman gave $250,000 — the largest contribution Coleman has ever received from an individual.
- January 30, 2026: the PAC gave $300,000.
The biggest source: a school voucher network
$883,621.50 came through three committees funded by Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s biggest backer of school vouchers. All of it came in 2022, the year Coleman won his primary by just 24 votes.
Much of it was advertising paid for on his behalf, rather than cash he controlled. That’s worth noting: it was spent to elect him, not handed to him.
A developer family: eight members
The Jaindl family gave $80,199.70 across 15 contributions. Jaindl Land Company is one of the Lehigh Valley’s biggest developers, with warehouse projects in Lower Macungie — inside District 16.
The money came from eight different family members. Pennsylvania doesn’t let a company give to a candidate directly. It puts no limit on what each family member can give.
The utility money
PPL’s political committee has given $25,750 since 2022, growing year by year — $250 in 2022, $500 in 2023, $10,000 in 2024, $10,000 in 2025, and $5,000 on March 30, 2026, while PPL’s $356 million rate increase request was waiting for a decision.
The CEO of Lehigh Gas gave $20,000 in 2025. Smaller amounts came from PECO, FirstEnergy, Essential Utilities and other energy companies.
What this does and doesn’t show
It doesn’t show that any contribution bought a vote. No one has claimed that, and this post doesn’t.
What it shows is simple math. Four of every five dollars Coleman raised came from 30 donors. One in three came from a school voucher network. More than one in four came from an industry whose product the Supreme Court has ruled illegal. Small donors supplied half of one percent.
Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County Controller and Democratic nominee, runs on a principle he calls “Public Money, Public Benefit”: no company should get special treatment or a tax break without real benefits for the public. The question this record raises is who a senator answers to.
What Pinsley would change
Pennsylvania puts no limit on how much a person or a political committee can give a candidate for state office. Corporations and unions can’t give straight from their treasuries, but they can set up political action committees, and those PACs can give without limit. Pennsylvania also doesn’t ban gifts to lawmakers. It only requires them to report the larger ones.
Pinsley would limit campaign contributions and end gifts to lawmakers. When a campaign depends on a few people writing very large checks, he says, those people “get heard a lot more than everyone else.” (The Morning Call, October 5, 2026)
All figures are from Patriots for Coleman’s own campaign finance reports, filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State, through May 4, 2026.
Totals include in-kind contributions, reported on Schedule II of those filings: goods and services, chiefly advertising, that outside committees paid for on the campaign’s behalf. In-kind contributions account for about $807,000 of the total, all of it in 2022. Refunds and other non-contribution receipts are not counted.
