SCOOP: ProPublica board member is a Maine Democratic fundraiser as outlet covers Senate race
Washington Reporter
Tayte Christensen
September 29, 2026
… A review of [ProPublica] shows one of its own board members has a history of supporting Democratic politicians in Maine, including multiple Collins opponents.
Robert “Bobby” Monks, a Maine real estate developer and ProPublica director, has spent years raising money for and donating to Democratic candidates, including Barack Obama and multiple candidates seeking the same Senate seat Collins now holds.
Monks currently sits on ProPublica’s board of directors, and his biography on the website notes he served on the Maine for Obama Steering and Finance Committee. His wife, Bonnie Porta, was a co-chair of Obama’s Maine finance committee, and the couple repeatedly hosted Democratic fundraising events.
Monks and Porta are also listed as “Leading Supporters” of ProPublica, according to the outlet’s 2025 annual report.
In 2014, Obama attended a fundraiser hosted at Monks’s and Porta’s Cape Elizabeth home, where roughly 25 supporters paid at least $16,200 apiece to attend. The couple was also involved in Obama fundraising during the 2012 campaign, with Porta raising between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s campaign.
More recently, Monks donated the maximum amount to the Senate campaigns of Gov. Janet Mills (D., Maine) and former Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, both of whom ran against Collins. Monks also backed Sara Gideon’s failed Senate run against Collins in 2020, donating thousands of dollars to the cause.
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ProPublica maintains that its board members have no say in its journalism, and its donor policy says board members do not receive advance notice of stories. The outlet’s ethics code separately instructs editorial employees to refrain from making political contributions or participating in partisan politics.
ProPublica did not respond to a request for comment.
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