The Revolving Door

These Members of Congress are Cashing In

One of the most insidious forms of political corruption is hiding in plain sight. The collective billions of dollars that corporations, billionaires, and super PACs funnel to campaigns corrupts members of Congress and influences their votes on everything from foreign wars to Medicaid spending, and there’s also another pattern of rank corruption that deserves our attention: the revolving door.

End Citizens United recently published an analysis of members of Congress and their records of blatant conflicts of interest, financial dealings, and self-enrichment schemes. Multiple current and former Republican Senate candidates share a history of leveraging their public office and insider connections for personal gain, often at the expense of American taxpayers.

“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 some lowlights from the Top 5 “Revolving Door” Republican Senate Candidates:

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine): During her nearly 30-year tenure in the U.S. Senate, Collins has accepted nearly half a million dollars from Big Pharma and she also has taken pivotal votes that have directly benefited Big Pharma – one of the most powerful, and well-funded corporate lobbies in America.”

In 2025, the private equity billionaire Steve Schwarzman funneled $2 million to reelect Collins and the very next day, she cast a determining vote to greenlight extending tax breaks to owners of private equity firms.

Meanwhile, Collins has protected her own ability to profit. She has opposed bipartisan legislation to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading individual stocks, even after reporting surfaced that showed her portfolio ranked “eighth among members of Congress for growth” in 2024.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska): Multi-millionaire Sullivan has gotten even richer while serving in the U.S. Senate. Reporting shows that he has owned $5 million worth of stock in a chemical company, RPM International, that makes products known to cause cancer while sitting on a Senate committee tasked with overseeing that industry; he has repeatedly backed the financial interests of the company. In turn, the chemical company poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into backing his re-election campaign.

Sullivan’s net worth increased significantly as a result of his holdings in the chemical industry. He’s also reportedly made an estimated $2 million trading stocks while a member of Congress – while Alaskans increasingly have trouble making ends meet.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers (Michigan): Rogers is running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate after leaving Congress, moving to Florida, and declaring that he was going to pursue “something more lucrative.” Since then, Rogers has engaged in classic revolving door politics and worked for the same companies that he used to regulate in Congress. If elected to the Senate, he’ll then be in a position where he’s supposed to oversee the companies and industries that just lined his pockets.

Former Sen. John Sununu (New Hampshire): Immediately after Sununu lost his 2008 reelection campaign, he went to work for a lobbying firm that represents corporate giants like Pfizer, Gilead, and Merck. While a senator, he sat on a committee that was supposed to be looking into the Wall Street bailout after the Great Financial Crisis. Sununu later joined the board of a financial firm that received $3 billion in the bailout fund – as well as the corporate boards of other businesses that he was tasked with overseeing in the Senate.

Now, Sununu is launching another Senate campaign and his top donors are from Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Oil, and the financial sector. He also owns a stock portfolio with as much as $2 million in those and affiliated industries.

Michael Whatley (North Carolina): Whatley is a longtime career lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry and its affiliated industries. He’s lobbied on the behalf of oil and gas companies and their allies for over a decade. He even launched and helped lead a pro-oil advocacy group that represented utility companies. Then, the lobbyists opposed regulations on fracking, water and air pollution while lobbying for offshore drilling. If he wins his election, Whatley would be in a position to give even more handouts to his utility and fossil fuel connections during a time when everyday Americans’ utility costs are skyrocketing.

Like many other members of Congress who made End Citizens United’s list of politicians who most abuse the revolving door, Whatley has personally enriched himself from the Trump administration’s actions. He has celebrated the U.S. government’s invasion of Venezuela and his Big Oil stock value rose as much as $630,000 in a single weekend.