Jordan Wood, a Democrat from Lewiston, Maine, was first to declare a 2026 challenge to Senator Susan Collins, and he made it a priority to seek his hometown mayor’s backing. He met Mayor Carl Sheline, also a Democrat, in City Hall and at a local Italian restaurant, and they spoke by phone several times. In the end, Mr. Sheline declined to endorse him. The Susan Collins campaign was not in the room, but her influence, Mr. Wood said, was felt.
Mr. Sheline cited several reasons for withholding support, including a housing project, a food distribution center, and a mill museum in Lewiston. He acknowledged that Ms. Collins had helped secure money for each. Mr. Wood called it “an environment of possible retribution,” describing a fear he believes the senator instills.
For nearly three decades, Ms. Collins, a Republican who presents herself as a Maine-style moderate, has built a reputation as a diligent legislator and adept steward of constituent services, channeling federal resources to local needs. Her critics argue that behind the image is a tough power broker who practices hard-edged politics. More than 40 interviews with Maine Republicans and Democrats, former staff and longtime observers portray her as a shrewd machine politician.
“It’s almost like Tammany Hall,” said Amy Fried, a retired University of Maine political scientist. Lance Dutson, a Republican strategist and former Collins aide, agreed, saying she makes clear that Maine would lose out if she is not in her post, which he believes encourages voters to see opposing her as a vote against their own interests.
Her office counters that she brings funding to communities regardless of their support. Annie Clark, a longtime aide, provided an extensive list of projects since 2021. According to her office, Ms. Collins secured $234 million for 96 projects in Cumberland and Knox counties, which she lost in 2020, and $51.2 million for 28 projects in Portland, where she won 21 percent of the vote. “Senator Collins has been extraordinarily effective,” spokeswoman Blake Kernen said, citing billions directed to all 16 counties.
At 73, the Senate Appropriations Committee chair is running as she has before, with a low-key schedule heavy on small-town visits where she highlights federal dollars for boat landings, emergency operations centers and wastewater facilities. Supporters at events hold signs reading, “Thank You, Susan.”
In recent debates with Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, a former logger and Maine Senate president, Ms. Collins emphasized her ability to deliver. “In the past five years I’ve secured $1.5 billion for properties all over the state,” she said. On radio this week, she cited 672 projects, including 45 new fire stations, and warned, “All that goes away if Troy were to be elected.”
Susan Collins campaign and the exercise of power
Ms. Collins’s background is steeped in Maine politics. Raised in Caribou in Aroostook County, her family owned a lumber company and hardware store, and multiple relatives served in local and state office. As a student, she worked for William S. Cohen and later joined his staff for 12 years, earning a reputation for meticulous preparation. She lost a 1994 gubernatorial bid, won her Senate seat in 1996, and, despite an early pledge to serve two terms, won reelection in 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2020.
She has often branded herself as an independent-minded Republican, sometimes bucking her party and former President Donald J. Trump. “I’m consistently sought out by both sides for cosponsorship of bills,” she said during her first Senate year. “I have a lot of power — I like that.” Privately, she has been viewed as a lone operator.
Former aides describe a fraught dynamic with Olympia Snowe, the Republican who joined the Senate two years before Ms. Collins. While they issued joint statements and often voted together, tensions over credit and stature simmered, according to Kurt Bardella, a former Snowe press secretary. Her relationship with Angus King, the independent who succeeded Ms. Snowe after defeating Ms. Collins in the 1994 governor’s race, has also been bristly. People familiar with their communications said they have not spoken in months, though they occasionally text. Aides to Mr. King have sometimes been asked to allow Ms. Collins to take more credit to advance policy goals.
Mr. Wood’s short-lived Senate bid became a lesson in Ms. Collins’s reach. He said elected Democrats and donors warned that she scrutinizes campaign finance reports and “kept score,” discouraging some from giving him more than $1,000 for fear she would notice. His campaign later lost momentum with the rise and fall of Graham Platner, which led Democrats to rally behind Mr. Jackson. After Mr. Wood exited the Senate race to run for Maine’s Second Congressional District last November, he said Mayor Sheline endorsed him immediately.
‘We should be thankful’
On the trail at the Fryeburg Fair this month, Ms. Collins moved from a cattle auction to a livestock barn while out-of-state reporters pressed for comments about the president. “I know you don’t like me,” she told one, “but don’t make me walk through shit.” She quickly pivoted to policy, pointing to $38 million in federal home-heating aid she said she helped expedite.
“Federal money is incredibly important up here,” said Mr. Dutson, arguing that voters weigh partisan rhetoric against visible local gains, like a fire truck in a 500-person town. While Mr. Jackson has drawn large crowds with progressive figures such as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ms. Collins has highlighted groundbreakings and grand openings, from a boat landing in Orrington to a wastewater facility in Windham.
In recent weeks, targeted campaign texts touted county and city totals: $33 million for Knox County, nearly $59 million for Bangor, and more than $109.3 million for 50 projects in Kennebec County. Supporters say these results justify another term. “What she produces is real — it’s tactile,” said Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority. “We should be thankful.”
Some Republicans who oppose Mr. Trump back Ms. Collins for her bipartisan record. Kevin Raye, a former Maine Senate president and longtime chief of staff to Ms. Snowe, now an independent, said he is rooting for Democrats to control Congress yet remains “in the Collins camp,” arguing that replacing her with a reliable partisan vote would be the wrong direction.
Opponents counter that her record has carried costs. They cite her procedural vote to advance Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill before ultimately opposing it, and her shifting votes on limiting military action in Iran, which they say contributed to cuts in health care and higher prices. Many remain angered by her vote to confirm Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which preceded the end of Roe v. Wade. “She’s very good at cutting ribbons,” said Betsy Sweet, a Democrat who ran for governor in 2018 and the Senate in 2020. “She’s also really good at cutting your health care.”
In the campaign’s final stretch, Ms. Collins has shown a sharper edge. In a recent interview, she noted of Mr. Jackson, “I’m not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin,” adding, “I don’t know whether people know that or not.” The remark drew attention. Soon after, the Senate Leadership Fund aired a radio ad with a crude jingle about Mr. Jackson’s relationship. Ms. Collins told reporters she had nothing to do with the ad and said it should be taken down.
Her campaign also aired a TV spot featuring retired sportscaster Bill Green saying, “We’re not talking about a cord of wood here, we’re talking about the U.S. Senate, and Troy doesn’t have the tools he needs to be effective.” The ad prompted backlash from some Mainers who called it elitist. Sam Patten, a former Collins aide who later pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent, wrote that she had long concealed “intrinsic arrogance.” He told reporters she is smart and hardworking, but that Washington breeds arrogance. Ted O’Meara, a former Snowe aide who worked with Ms. Collins early in their careers, described a sense of entitlement, then asked if his remarks were on the record, adding, “She’ll be pissed.”
As Election Day approaches, the Susan Collins campaign is betting that decades of seniority and a ledger of local projects will outweigh criticism of her style and votes. Her detractors hope Maine voters will look past the ribbon cuttings and judge her by broader policy outcomes. The choice, as both sides frame it, is between a seasoned appropriator and a change in direction.