Montana Democrat Sam Forstag, who says he will not take corporate PAC money, has received $142,851 from individual donors tied to major technology and AI companies, finance and lobbying firms, and environmental and activist organizations, according to an analysis of his federal campaign contributions.

Forstag received $142,851 in itemized contributions from donors tied to corporate, lobbying, finance, green activist, and AI/data-center interests, according to a review of his federal campaign finance filings. Of that total, $108,017.14 came from individuals in the corporate, lobbying, and finance category; $18,261.11 from donors connected to AI and data-center-related companies; and $16,572.75 from individuals associated with green and activist organizations.

Among the most notable donors was former Biden Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning, who gave $1,500. Stone-Manning, listed as a conservationist with The Wilderness Society, has said livestock grazing on public lands “is destroying the West” and called a proposed Montana mine “philosophically abhorrent.” Capital Press previously described her as “an enemy of livestock grazing with ties to ecoterrorists” over her involvement in a 1989 tree-spiking incident. Forstag’s Republican opponent Aaron Flint also noted in 2021 that Stone-Manning had previously described babies as an “environmental hazard” while advocating population control.

Hollywood producer Gavin Polone gave Forstag $7,000. After a 2016 presidential debate, Polone wrote that Donald Trump’s “objective wasn’t to get poorly educated whites to vote for him. He’s got them.” He later described himself as a “vegan, atheist” who believes “we should have much stronger gun laws” and has advocated against using animals in entertainment, including rodeos and circuses.

Baupost Group CEO Seth Klarman gave $3,500. Klarman previously compared Republicans to Nazis, saying Germany “had a constitution before Hitler came to power and at the end of the war they had the exact same constitution. It lasted all the way through, but democracy didn’t.”

Social Security Works Executive Director Alex Lawson, who also gave $3,500, has said, “The villain here is the Republican ideology that says this system works … and therefore, we must destroy it.”

Voter Participation Center CEO Thomas Lopach, a former chief of staff to former Sen. Jon Tester, gave $2,500. The Voter Participation Center has described a Supreme Court voting-rights ruling as “a devastating blow to civil rights protections.”

Forstag also received $18,261.11 from donors connected to AI and data-center-related companies. Oracle engineer Mark Jungerman of Whitefish, Montana, gave $7,000 across six contributions. Oracle is an equity partner in the Stargate initiative, a planned $500 billion AI data-center buildout. Microsoft Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of AI Kevin Scott gave $3,500 and is involved in Microsoft’s AI data-center expansion and its partnership with OpenAI.

The largest donor category was corporate, lobbying, and finance, totaling $108,017.14. The list includes $7,000 each from Lone Pine Capital founder Steve Mandel, Lupa Systems CEO James Murdoch, Quadrivium Foundation co-founder and president Kathryn Murdoch, Medley Partners managing director Mark Heising, XN LP CEO Gaurav Kapadia, and Sageview Capital finance executive Scott Stuart. Mandel founded Lone Pine Capital, an anchor of The Bench, a billionaire-funded super PAC network connected to Forstag’s joint fundraising committees.

The remaining contributions came from a broad range of executives, lobbyists, consultants, attorneys, finance professionals, environmental advocates, Planned Parenthood-affiliated officials, ACLU-linked figures, and employees of major technology companies including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Salesforce, Waymo, DocuSign, and Invenergy.

Breitbart News reported on September 22 that Forstag’s campaign website removed a “National Leaders” endorsement section sometime between June 9 and August 28 that had featured Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and five other progressive lawmakers, even though Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez had endorsed him during the primary and Ocasio-Cortez had campaigned with him in Missoula. The campaign continued invoking both endorsements afterward, including in a September 7 fundraising email calling Forstag a “progressive brawler.”

Forstag previously worked as a legislative program manager for the ACLU of Montana, where he lobbied on issues including criminal justice reform, voting rights, immigrant rights, and the state budget, and later worked at Central House Strategies with clients and causes including Planned Parenthood of Montana, homelessness policy, sex education, and public-library funding.

He also opposed Montana legislation restricting transgender-identifying students from participating in women’s and girls’ school sports and a bill that would have prohibited certain gender-transition surgeries for minors and referrals for such procedures.

Forstag is running in Montana’s First Congressional District against Republican Aaron Flint, a military veteran and conservative radio host endorsed by President Donald Trump and retiring Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT).