WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins appears to have a not-so-subtle message for President Trump: Stay away.
In the first debate with Democrat Troy Jackson, Collins (R-Maine) twice dodged a question about whether she would stand with Trump if she were to swing in the Pine Tree State.
“I don’t think President Trump is coming to Maine,” she said when asked. “He’s talking about going to a lot of different states. I haven’t heard anything from his office. And I’m not his favorite senator.”
When pressed again, she responded, “I would say he’s not coming to Maine.”
Trump told reporters on Monday that he planned to travel through Maine as part of his midterm blitz, but so far has not publicly disclosed specific plans for the trip.
“I think we’re going to Maine as well. I’m going to Michigan in a week and a half,” Trump said.
In 2024, Trump lost Maine to former Vice President Kamala Harris by about 7 percentage points. Maine has gone blue in every presidential election this century. However, the state’s Republican senators managed to hold on to their seats during that time.
Trump featured prominently in Collins’ debate with Jackson, who sought to blame her for some of the president’s policies, such as the Iran war, the trade war with Canada and the Big Beauty Act.
Collins has repeatedly distanced herself from Trump, stressing that she opposes him on all three issues. She highlighted a study that found she was “more opposed to my party than any other senator in both parties.”
She also touted her efforts to alleviate what she said were problems with Maine’s Democratic-controlled state government and Trump. At one point, she mentioned how she negotiated salt off the tariff list, noting that Maine relied on imports from Canada to handle its winter roads.
“What about the rest? We can’t eat road salt,” Jackson countered.
While Jackson tried to blame Maine people’s problems on the chaos in Washington, Collins worked to turn the fire on him and the state government in Augusta.
“If you look at the policies that are driving up the cost of living in Maine, you have to look at Augusta. Maine has the fourth-highest electricity prices in the country. It has the highest housing costs in the country,” she said.
“Its property taxes are extremely high. These are the result of failed policies in Augusta under the failed leadership of Troy Jackson.”
Jackson, who led the state Senate from 2018 to 2024, relied heavily on a thick white binder filled with notes during oral arguments. But Collins emphasized his efforts in passing major legislation.
Perhaps his biggest beef with Collins is her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018. Jackson pressed her, “What does it take for you to admit you were wrong?”
“I obviously disagree with the way Brett Kavanaugh voted in Roe v. Wade,” she said at one point. “I want to point out that there’s only one person on this stage who has been pro-life, and that’s me.”
Early in his political career, Jackson took a staunchly anti-abortion stance, but later changed his position to become pro-choice.
She also noted that she voted for all the liberal justices on the Supreme Court.