Susan Collins’s re-election campaign in Maine has placed her reputation for independence at the centre of the contest, with former senator Joe Manchin joining her for breakfast with voters in Lewiston.
Manchin, who left the Democratic Party and retired from the Senate in 2024, portrayed the Republican incumbent as a politician who represents Maine rather than her party or Donald Trump.
“She’s not a Trump senator. She’s not a Republican senator or a Democrat senator,” Mr Manchin told reporters after the event. “She’s an American senator that represents her state of Maine.”
Ms Collins is the only Republican senator seeking re-election in a state Mr Trump lost. The race is rated a toss-up, although she has previously survived difficult contests and won by more than eight points in 2020, despite Mr Trump losing Maine by nine points.
Both senators have built political identities around challenging their parties. Ms Collins has repeatedly argued that she votes against Mr Trump’s wishes, and sought to underline that position during a tour of a New Balance factory in Maine.
Asked about comments by Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff describing Russian president Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian” after the release of a jailed US citizen, Ms Collins replied: “no.”
“I would describe Putin as a warmonger, a thug. He’s certainly not a humanitarian. He is the aggressor in the war against Ukraine,” she said.
Ms Collins also said she opposed Mr Trump’s decision to waive new sanctions on Russia and a diesel deal with Moscow to import Russian diesel, arguing that the arrangement would provide Russia with more money for its war against Ukraine.
She has also criticised the president’s handling of the Iran war, saying in debates that he did not have a good plan and that the conflict should end.
Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, has questioned whether those criticisms amount to meaningful opposition. “She’s the chair of appropriations. If she wants to stop the war, she can cut the funding off for the war,” he said at a debate last week.
“But she’s not willing to do that because Donald Trump wants this and that’s what is going to happen,” Mr Jackson added.
The challenge to Ms Collins’s independent image was also visible outside her breakfast stop, where protesters called for her retirement and held signs and cut-outs of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, referring to her vote to confirm him.
Supporters wearing bright red answered with chants of “six more years” as Ms Collins emerged to speak to reporters. Her campaign bus blocked the protesters from view.
Elaine Makas, a Lewiston Democrat and former state legislator, said Ms Collins was “genuinely a nice person” and that she was grateful for her service, but argued that her voting record mattered more.
“She’s just voting wrong,” Ms Makas said. “She’s fallen completely in line with the president.”
Ms Makas also echoed Mr Jackson’s criticism that Ms Collins only breaks with Mr Trump when her vote cannot affect the outcome. She said she believed Mr Jackson, a former president of the state Senate, would listen to Maine voters.
