GOP Sen. Collins, a Sometimes Trump Foe, Seeks Re-Election

BY SIOBHAN HUGHES

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine centrist who has clashed with President Trump, said Tuesday she would run for re-election, giving a boost to the GOP’s chance of holding on to their majority in the midterms.

“I have a proven record of working for you, and I’m running for reelection because my experience, seniority and independence matter,” she said in an opinion article in the Bangor Daily News.

The announcement comes as Democrats are aiming to narrow Republicans’ 53- 47 edge in the chamber, and the Maine seat was seen as almost certain to flip blue if Collins had decided to retire. On the Democratic side, Maine Gov. Janet Mills is running for the nomination against Iraq war veteran Graham Platner.

Members of both parties had wondered whether Collins would run again, given that she had delayed the re-election announcement. Fellow Republicans cheered her decision.

“Run, Susan, Run,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on X. “Great news for those seeking steady hands in the U.S. Senate.”

Democrats said Collins should have retired. Mills posted a video highlighting Collins’s past support for conservative Supreme Court picks. Collins “wants another six years to do Trump and Republicans’ bidding. I won’t let that happen,” Mills said on X.

Collins, the powerful chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, has proved to be tough to beat in the past despite heavy spending by Democratic challengers in the blue-leaning state. In 2020, she defeated Democrat Sara Gideon by about 9 percentage points, even as Trump lost the state handily.

Collins, 73 years old, has been a top target of Democrats while also a source of frustration to Trump’s MAGA movement, splitting with her own party on various high--profile votes. She was among the Republicans who voted against the failed GOP-led Obamacare repeal in 2017, and she was one of seven Republicans who sided with Democrats to try to convict Trump in his impeachment trial in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

A group aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said last month it was planning to spend tens of millions of dollars to protect Collins, even as Trump has repeatedly criticized her. Trump said Collins and other GOP holdouts “should never be elected to office again” after she voted to limit presidential war powers in Venezuela.

Collins also said last month that immigration agents agreed to scale back their operations in Maine after she complained to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Collins was among the Republican senators who opposed some of Trump’s nominees last year and voted against his “one big, beautiful” tax law. She has also clashed with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who worked to slash spending by clawing back money that Congress appropriated.