“There has been widespread speculation that Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, could challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in a run for U.S. Senate when Collins’ term ends in 2026,” WMTW reports.
Said Mills: “That’s the rumor. I don’t know. I would think seriously about it, but I’m not ready to make any decisions along those lines.”
A new Pine Tree State poll in Maine finds Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) at just 14% favorability and with an unfavorability of 57 percent.
“Democrats have one big hope as they scramble to find a top-tier recruit against GOP Sen. Susan Collins in Maine: Maybe she won’t run at all,” CNN reports.
“Collins, the lone New England Senate Republican, who is at the peak of her influence over 28 years in the chamber, has fended off one Democratic foe after another in hard-fought races to hang on to her seat. And again, her seat is pivotal in the Democrats’ uphill climb back to the majority.”
“But Collins, 72, has yet to make a formal announcement that she’ll run in what will almost certainly be a bruising battle for a sixth term. And high-profile potential Democratic candidates, like Gov. Janet Mills and Rep. Jared Golden, are weighing their next moves as they await the veteran senator’s final decision.”
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Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) might still run against Sen. Susan Collins (R) next year, NOTUS reports.
“Mills has not yet made a decision but could choose to launch a Senate bid as late as the end of this year and still have time to challenge the GOP incumbent.”
A new Morning Consult poll in Maine finds 51% of voters disapprove of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and 42% approve of her job performance, a rough inversion of her standing in the first quarter of 2019, before she went on to outrun Donald Trump by nearly 7 percentage points and win re-election.
Politico: “Even as ticket-splitting rates have plummeted, Collins has stymied all previous Democratic attempts to oust her from her Maine Senate seat and she remains the only Republican senator left standing in a state that Donald Trump lost in 2024. A rare GOP moderate, she frequently crosses party lines, voting to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial and against confirming his Defense secretary four years later.”
“That has made her unpopular with some Trump voters, but Collins’ path has always been to make up for her weakness on her right flank by bringing in an impressive number of moderate Democrats and cleaning up with independents. In the midterms, Democrats are hoping she’s become so unpalatable that her coalition collapses.”
“Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) plans to run for a sixth term in the Senate, buoying Republicans’ hopes of retaining her seat in 2026,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“Collins would be one of the most vulnerable incumbents heading into a less favorable Senate map for Republicans next cycle. She could also face political headwinds with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House.”
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) looks ready to run for a third term that would make him Maine’s oldest-ever senator, the Bangor Daily News reports.
Federal prosecutors are investigating what they call a massive scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins’ 2020 reelection bid, Axios reports.
“A recently unsealed search warrant application shows the FBI believes an executive with a Hawaii defense contractor illegally funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC and reimbursed family members’ donations to Collins’ campaign.”
Sara Gideon (D), who lost her challenge to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) last November, still had $11.5 million in her campaign account on March 31, according to FEC filings.
“The Maine Republican Party could vote by month’s end to censure Sen. Susan Collins over her Saturday vote to convict former President Donald Trump of a Democratic impeachment charge, a move that infuriated many in the conservative grassroots,” the Bangor Daily News reports.
“If Republicans are able to hold onto their majority in the U.S. Senate, the remarkable staying power of Susan Collins will be a big reason why,” the AP reports.
“Collins defied prognostications of doom from Washington’s consultant class to score perhaps the most unexpected victory of the 2020 cycle, hanging a lopsided loss on a Democratic challenger despite a pile of outside Democratic money and open hostility from the leader of her party, President Trump.”
“Revitalized and empowered, Collins now has the chance to wield her influence over a Senate where the sweet spot for President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda will be found somewhere in the moderate middle — the political space she’s happily called home for decades.”
Politico: Susan Collins reaches peak influence after Senate stunner.
Sen. Susan Collins said her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, called her to concede in the Maine Senate race, Politico reports.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is locked in a close reelection race with Sara Gideon (D), warned to Hugh Hewitt that it could take a week to determine who won Maine’s U.S. Senate race.
Said Collins: “If neither of us gets 50 percent of the vote, then we get into the rather odd ranked choice voting… We probably would not know for certain who won for another week.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told the New York Times that she briefly considered running for reelection as an independent but ultimately decided to stick with her party because of loyalty to “the New England brand of Republicanism.”
President Trump slammed Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) this morning:
“There is a nasty rumor out there that Senator Collins of Maine will not be supporting our great United States Supreme Court Nominee. Well, she didn’t support Healthcare or my opening up 5000 square miles of Ocean to Maine, so why should this be any different. Not worth the work!”
Of course, the “nasty rumor” is actually Collins’ statement from last month saying she would not vote to confirm a nominee before the election.
A new Pan Atlantic Research poll in Maine finds Sara Gideon (D) leading Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 40%.
Meanwhile, Playbook nots Collins raised $8.3 million last quarter while Gideon raised $39.4 million.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) went after Sara Gideon (D) in a Politico interview and accused the State House speaker of “defaming my reputation and attacking my integrity.”
Said Collins: “She will say or do anything to try to win. This race is built on a foundation of falsehoods. And trying to convince the people of Maine that somehow I am no longer the same person.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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