Politics 5 min read By Callum Montgomery
Collins Campaigns With Manchin as Maine Senate Race Tightens
Susan Collins is leaning on her reputation for independence and a cross-party endorsement from Joe Manchin as she seeks a sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson, with the president's unpopularity looming over the contest.
Susan Collins is putting her reputation for independence at the centre of her bid for a sixth term in the US Senate, campaigning alongside former Democratic colleague Joe Manchin as she tries to hold off a well-funded challenge from Troy Jackson in Maine.
The Republican senator appeared with Manchin, the West Virginian who became an independent late in his career before retiring, at a hot dog stand in Lewiston and later at a New Balance shoe facility in Norway. Collins said the two had been «part of every piece of bipartisan legislation that passed and became law» during their time together in office.
Manchin, one of the Senate's most moderate voices, said losing Collins would be «to lose the soul of the Senate». He praised her willingness to break with Republican President Donald Trump and her record of fighting for Maine's interests, describing her as «a true blue-blooded Maine person who knows exactly where she came from».
The endorsement is central to Collins's effort to persuade voters she is independent of the president. She voted to convict Trump at his 2021 impeachment trial and said in early October that she is «not exactly his favorite senator», adding that she did not expect him to campaign in Maine. Trump has stayed away from the state as the 3 November election approaches.
Democrats have made her relationship with Trump a central line of attack. One advertisement features a nurse saying the state is in a healthcare crisis «because of Susan Collins and Donald Trump», citing her vote to advance his push for Medicaid cuts. Collins voted to move the bill forward but ultimately opposed it.
Trump was also a dominant theme in four contentious debates this month. Asked at the final debate to name a time she bucked her party and succeeded, Collins cited her opposition to Trump's nomination of Pete Hegseth, who was nonetheless confirmed as defence secretary. Democrats seized on the exchange, saying it underscored the central question of the race: whether Collins stands up to her party often enough to earn the independent streak she has staked her career on.
Jackson, 58, a former state Senate president and logger from northern Maine, has described Collins as a «rubber stamp» for the president and criticised her votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. Collins has said she does not regret either vote. Jackson has characterised her as out of touch with the struggles of working-class people in Maine.
He got a late start after the party's initial nominee left the race, but trails Collins by less than $3 million in the money race after raising more than $20 million in an aggressive quarter. His events have drawn hundreds, while Collins has largely stuck to smaller appearances. He is due to campaign in Portland with progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Some of Jackson's supporters demonstrated across the street from the Lewiston event, holding signs bearing the face of Kavanaugh, whose vote helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. «Someone needs to stand up and be a check on Donald Trump and his harmful policies,» said David Sysko.
Among the few dozen Collins supporters at the hot dog stand was Mike Marcotte, who said: «I may not have always been a fan of her complete package of votes, but when I look at the vitriol that's in the U.S. Senate right now, we need more people like Susan Collins.»
Republican advertisements against Jackson have focused on accusations that he has a volatile personality and behaves like a bully towards female colleagues, which he denies. Collins distanced herself from a Republican super PAC attack ad that she said «should be taken down».
Collins, 73, is the only Republican senator from New England, a distinction she has held since January 2013. This is only the second time she has sought reelection in a midterm with a sitting Republican president, and national trends are far less favourable to her party than in 2002. Trump's approval has fallen well below where it stood when he took office last year, and a recent poll found a strong majority of voters want change in Washington.
She remains the favourite in a state that has grown bluer in recent years, but the contest is widely seen as her toughest yet. In 2020 she defeated Democrat Sara Gideon by nearly nine percentage points.
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