PORTLAND, Maine — This election year is déjà vu for Sen. Susan Collins — the Maine Republican is running for reelection as Democrats pin their hopes on a new candidate to defeat her. Last time, it was state lawmaker Sara Gideon. This time, it's combat veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner.
But Collins has proven to be a hard target for Democrats over the years — even for candidates without the baggage of Platner, who has faced criticism for his relationships with women, inflammatory online posts and a previous tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Collins is seeking her sixth term with sky-high name recognition, a record-breaking run of consecutive Senate votes and a history of bringing back federal funding for her state for years.
She is also the rare Republican who sometimes can boost her own popularity back home by keeping her distance from President Donald Trump, and she has perfected that delicate dance even as his tightening grip on the party has cost two of her Senate Republican colleagues their reelection.
Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lost their primaries when facing Trump-endorsed opponents. But despite the president's complaints about Collins, he did not campaign against her. Years of practice have made her adept at staying close — but not too close — to the president when it is politically advantageous, and moving away when showing an independent streak is helpful.
"She's shown time and time again where her state's electorate is. She understands what's too far, she understands where she needs to be," said political consultant Matt Mackowiak, who worked for Cornyn's failed reelection campaign. Trump endorsed Cornyn's opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The road to Senate control goes through Maine
The Democrats need to flip four seats to take control of the Senate in November and hope that Trump's falling approval ratings and the war in Iran — as well as its subsequent effect on oil prices and the economy — could buoy their chances. Maine is among the top targets, along with Alaska, Ohio and North Carolina.
Platner wants to make the case that Collins isn't as independent of Trump as her reputation suggests — repeatedly noting that she allowed his Supreme Court nominations to go through, which in 2022 led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion, among other major issues.
"Susan Collins may have started her career decades ago in Washington with good intentions, but she has become just as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves," Platner said at a victory party on Tuesday.
Platner supporters are ready for change, said John Keenan, of Sullivan, Maine.
“I think Maine has grown tired of the same old system,” he said. “And putting youth into the campaign, with new instead of a rubber stamp, is very refreshing.”
Trump has often criticized Collins — but not lately
Even as she faces Platner in November, Collins may have to stay wary of Trump. The president has spent years singling her out for daring to occasionally defy him on some issues.
However, he's refrained from doing so more recently — especially as Collins failed to draw a credible challenger and cruised to a Republican primary victory.
The White House declined to comment. Political advisers close to Trump, however, said the president understands how critical it is that Republicans maintain control of Congress after November, which requires accommodating Collins. Trump understands the need to avoid a Republican wipeout like 2018's “blue wave” midterms that saw Democrats flip the House and derail much of the last two years of his first-term plans.
“Senator Susan Collins represents the people of Maine first and foremost and has proven herself to be a dedicated public servant," said Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci in a statement.
Collins spokesperson Blake Kernan said the senator “has worked with five different Presidents throughout her Senate tenure, and has never agreed with any of them on every issue.”
“When she agrees with an effort, she will support it; when she disagrees, she does not hesitate to speak up for what she believes is the right outcome for Maine and for America,” Kernan said in a statement.
Other Republicans ran into trouble with Trump
That didn't work out for some Republican senators.
Cornyn was among his party's top voices, rising through the ranks after joining the Senate in 2002. Paxton trounced him in a runoff race days after Trump endorsed the attorney general.
In office since 2015, Cassidy voted to convict Trump during his impeachment trial after the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021. He lost his primary to Trump-endorsed state Rep. Julia Letlow.
Maine figures to be a more competitive race in November — as evidenced by Trump recently refraining from singling out Collins. That's despite her voting last week with Democrats to block the nearly $1.8 billion fund the president wanted to create to benefit allies that he claims were unfairly targeted by law enforcement.
“She’s always down in the polls and she survives,” Trump conceded when asked about Collins in an interview with the New York Post last week.
Collins defeated Gideon, the Maine House speaker, by almost 9 points in 2020, the same year that Biden beat Trump by a similar margin in the state.
Mackowiak said "there’s just no pathway to a MAGA senator from Maine.”
“It does appear that the Trump political operation is soberly analyzing the electoral environment in Maine and really kind of follows her lead as it relates to that state and that race, particularly this cycle,” he said.
Maine Republicans are ‘a bit more pragmatic’
Chuck Ellis, a Republican from Westbrook who runs a digital marketing company, said Collins' reluctance to move in lockstep with Trump can be a plus.
Although there are some “hard-line” voters who may disapprove, Ellis said, "ultimately a lot of your conservatives, your Republicans, are people who are a bit more pragmatic.”
After Collins opposed the White House’s signature tax cut and spending package last year, and voted against a proposal to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding, the president complained about her on social media.
“Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins," he wrote.
Then, in January, Trump lashed out at the “stupidity” of Collins and four other Senate Republicans who joined Democrats to start a debate over restricting the president’s use of force in Venezuela.
She later received a profanity-laced call from Trump.
White House may keep a further distance from Collins' race
As chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Collins last week cast her 10,000th Senate vote in a row, setting a record.
“She has been able to do and show that ‘I am bringing money and resources from the federal government to Maine to help Maine,’” Ellis said.
The president is unlikely to travel to Maine ahead of November despite visiting other states with key Senate races, like Iowa and Michigan. He could even campaign personally for Paxton.
Vice President JD Vance has been to Maine, where he promoted his anti-fraud task force. Collins didn’t attend Vance’s speech in Bangor last month where he acknowledged the senator's distance from the Trump administration.
“If she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was,” Vance said, "she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”
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Weissert reported from Washington.
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