Sen. Joe Manchin III and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, both Democrats, have received more campaign contributions from Republican political action committees than their Republican counterparts, according to data compiled by the Sunlight Foundation.
Both senators were more likely to receive contributions from Republican PACs than Democratic PACs, according to the data. The data covers the period from July 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017.
Mr. Manchin received over $130,000 from Republicans in 2017. Mr. Sinema received over $113,000. By comparison, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania received $59,000 and Sen. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, who is up for re-election in 2018, received $18,000 from Republican PACs.
The data excludes donations made to candidates by congressional leadership PACs and race-based PACs, which are typically open to members of the same party. Federal election law allows members of the same party to set up these PACs. The time periods that the data covered are limited to those in which their races were part of the same party primary or general election.
The Montana Democratic senator, Jon Tester, has also been singled out by Democrats for receiving campaign contributions from race-based PACs. The disparity can be explained by the fact that Mr. Tester is a first-term Democratic senator seeking re-election this year. Race-based PACs can only donate to candidates in the same party primary or general election in which they are running for office.
In a meeting with The New York Times last month, Mr. Manchin sought to explain how he was able to secure campaign contributions from people affiliated with oil and gas companies, which he said are responsible for jobs in his state.