AUGUSTA – The U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Chellie Pingree is off to a roaring start. On Thursday, Pingree announced her campaign’s fund-raising efforts have already topped $300,000.

Collins is expected to release her totals later this week. As the incumbent, Collins is expected to have a huge fund-raising advantage. In the 2000 Maine Senate race, Republican incumbent Olympia Snow raised $1.9 million to only $727,000 for Democratic challenger Mark Lawrence.

Pingree reported $310,175 in donations as of June 30, the end of the Federal Elections Commission filing period. More than 1,000 individuals contributed to the campaign, with three-quarters of the donors from Maine. The campaign had $280,028 in cash in hand.

“I am honored by the overwhelming support and enthusiasm that people in Maine and across the country have for the campaign,” Pingree said Thursday. She said more than 500 volunteers have signed up to help with the campaign and more than 150 current and former elected officials and party leaders have endorsed her.

Before she was removed by term limits, Pingree was majority leader in the Maine Senate, where she sponsored legislation to lower prescription drug prices for uninsured Maine residents. She has vowed to fight in Congress for lower drug prices and full Medicare drug benefits for seniors. Another prospective Democratic candidate for the seat, businessman Bob Dunfey of York, has called for an open primary to determine the party nominee. An open primary would allow voters who are not enrolled in any party or are members of the Maine Green Independent Party and Reform Party to participate.

“Our future as the party of the working people and middle-class family is in serious jeopardy if we do not listen to the voice of the American public and work for people, not partisan politics,” he said in a speech last week to the Democratic Party State Committee meeting in Aroostook County. “That is why I call on the Democratic Party to conduct an open primary in 2002.”

Traditionally, both major parties have held closed primaries.

“When Democrats lose independents, we lose elections. We need to reach out to the vibrant center that is the core of Maine values and an open primary is the way to do it,” Dunfey said.

Dunfey is a businessman and a former Clinton-Gore administration official who is expected to formally announce his candidacy next month.