In their first debate in the closely watched race for U.S. Senate in Maine, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins defended her record of bringing federal funding to the state and using her seniority to influence policy, while Democratic challenger Troy Jackson repeatedly argued she has failed to stand up to former President Donald Trump and has enabled policies that hurt Mainers.
Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told voters she has secured “$1.5 billion for 672 projects” over the past five years and framed those awards as “investments in our communities.” She pointed to behind-the-scenes work to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade dispute with Canada, saying she was “the most outspoken opponent of the tariffs with Canada” and had been successful in getting “concrete, pulp and road salt removed from the tariff list.”
Jackson countered that those steps do not go far enough and accused Collins of being reluctant to confront the former president. “She won’t talk back against Donald Trump,” he said, mocking the road-salt victory by asking, “We can’t eat road salt.” Jackson also criticized Collins for advancing the administration’s major legislative package out of committee, calling her “like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out.” Collins said she voted against the bill’s final passage because of Medicaid cuts but defended her committee vote by citing billions in funding for rural health care.
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Republican Sen. Collins and Democrat Jackson clash in debate on Trump, trade and abortion
The candidates sparred on foreign policy as well. Collins referenced past votes to end the war in Iran and blamed the conflict for contributing to higher gasoline and diesel prices, saying, “I think that it is not well thought out. It has caused adverse circumstances in terms of the cost of global oil.”
On the question of whether President Trump might campaign in Maine ahead of the November election, Collins said she doubted he would come to the state. “I don't think that President Trump is going to come to Maine,” she said, adding she had “heard nothing from his office, and I’m not exactly his favorite senator.”
Jackson pressed Collins on her 2018 vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, noting that the debate fell on the anniversary of that vote. “He helped overturn Roe v. Wade, and today she says she has no regrets,” Jackson said, asking whether voters should “trust her to pick the next Supreme Court of Justice?” Collins said she does not agree with Kavanaugh’s vote to overturn Roe and emphasized her support for Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Asked whether she believed Kavanaugh lied during his confirmation proceedings, Collins replied, “I do not feel that he lied, but I think that he should not have said it was settled law,” adding a nominee cannot be fairly asked how he would rule on hypothetical future cases.
Collins also sought to draw a contrast on abortion rights, saying, “there’s only one of us on this stage who has always been pro-choice, and that’s me,” and calling attention to Jackson’s earlier opposition to abortion access.
Immigration was another point of contention. Jackson referenced a fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting in Biddeford earlier this year and urged that ICE be disbanded, with its funding redirected to Customs and Border Protection. Collins pushed back on abolishing the agency, saying it needs “serious reform.”
The debate highlighted familiar themes in the race: Collins emphasizing experience and tangible federal dollars for Maine, and Jackson portraying her as insufficiently independent from a Republican federal agenda that, he said, has raised costs and harmed Mainers.
