GOP Rep. Chris Collins raised $80 from within district after indictment

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) received a total of $80 in contributions from donors within his district after he was indicted in August on insider trading charges.

Documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show that Collins reported close to $33,000 in campaign contributions in the third quarter of 2018, down more than $70,000 from the previous quarter.

Of his third quarter haul, most came from political action committees. After he was charged on Aug. 8, just three people from New York’s 27th Congressional District contributed to his campaign for a total of $80.

{mosads}The statistic was first reported by WGRZ in Buffalo.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Group made the lone donation to Collins’s re-election effort after he was indicted on insider trading charges in August, WGRZ reported.

The Justice Department in August charged Collins, 68, with securities fraud and lying to the FBI about his efforts to tip off family members with nonpublic stock information to help them avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment losses.

Collins pleaded not guilty, and briefly suspended his reelection campaign in the wake of the charges. He reversed course a few weeks later, saying he planned to remain in the race.

Collins is running against Grand Island, N.Y., Supervisor Nate McMurray (D).

A Siena College/Spectrum News poll released Tuesday showed that Collins leads by 3 points, 46 to 43 percent, among likely voters in the district. The result fell within the poll’s margin of error, which is 4.7 percentage points.

A judge last week set a February 2020 trial date for Collins, meaning if he wins re-election, he will serve out much of his next term with the charges hanging over him.