WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 topple her. Last time, it was state lawmaker Sara Gideon. This time, it is combat veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner.
Collins has proved to be a hard target for Democrats, even for candidates without the baggage of Platner, who has faced criticism for his relationships with women,
for his inflammatory online posts and for a previous tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol.
Collins is also the rare Republican these days who can sometimes boost her own popularity back home by keeping her distance from President Donald Trump. She has perfected that delicate dance over the years even as Trump has sharply criticized her and tightened his grip on the party, costing two of Collins' colleagues their chance of reelection.
On Wednesday, however, Trump made clear he is in Collins' corner.
Although the president told reporters Wednesday that “she's not my best friend at all,” he also said “she's a sane person and she's a person that never missed a vote in many years.” Collins recently set a record by casting her 10,000th Senate vote in a row.
Trump suggested Platner is "worse than any human being that’s run for office probably" and went on to insult the Democratic nominee. "He’s a cheap, no-good person," the president said, adding, “He's like a pig.”
With the November general election months away, it is uncertain whether Trump's support for Collins will help or hurt as she seeks a sixth term. 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 Republican political consultant Matt Mackowiak.
The Democrats need to flip four seats to take control of the Senate. They hope Trump's falling approval ratings and the war with Iran, as well as the fallout 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 is not as independent of Trump as her reputation suggests. He often notes that she allowed his Supreme Court nominees to go through, which in 2022 led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had legalized abortion.
"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 party Tuesday celebrating his primary victory.
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.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee posted a pro-Collins video on X that resembled a 1980s video game. It said Collins “has brought more than $1.5 billion back to Maine" and Platner “spent time as a kid at a $70,000 a year prep school in Connecticut.”
Collins may still have to stay wary of Trump, who has singled her out for daring to occasionally defy him on some issues. For example, she voted 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.
Nonetheless, he has refrained from criticizing lately, especially as the senator failed to draw a credible GOP challenger and cruised in the primary.
Political advisers close to Trump said the president understands how critical it is that Republicans maintain control of Congress, and that requires accommodating Collins. Trump understands the need to avoid a Republican wipeout like the 2018 midterms when Democrats flipped the House and derailed much of the final two years of his first-term plans.
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 Kernen 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,” Kernen said in a statement.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was among his party's top voices, but Trump viewed him as insufficiently loyal. State Attorney General Ken Paxton trounced Cornyn in a runoff race on May 26, just days after receiving Trump's endorsement.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana voted to convict Trump during his impeachment trial after the Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy lost his primary when Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming advanced to a runoff later this month.
“She’s always down in the polls and she survives,” Trump said when asked about Collins in an interview with the New York Post last week.
Collins defeated Gideon, the Maine House speaker, by almost 9 percentage points in 2020, the same year that Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump by a similar margin in the state.
Mackowiak said “there’s just no pathway to a MAGA senator from Maine,” referring to Trump's ”Make America Great Again" movement.
“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.
Chuck Ellis, a Republican from Westbrook, Maine, 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.
Trump is unlikely to travel to Maine before November despite visiting other states with key Senate races such as Iowa and Michigan.
Vice President JD Vance has been to Maine, where he promoted his anti-fraud task force. Collins did not 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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This story has been corrected to show the spelling of Collins’ spokesperson’s surname is Kernen, not Kernan.
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
