Sen Susan Collins launches 2026 re-election marketing campaign bid in Maine

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Republican Sen. Susan Collins is effectively conscious of the robust path forward as she formally kicks off her 2026 re-election marketing campaign in blue-leaning Maine.

Collins is the highest goal for Senate Democrats as they attempt to win again the chamber's majority in November's midterm elections.

" Chuck Schumer has made me as soon as once more — that is the third time he is achieved this — his primary goal," Collins stated in an interview with Fox Information Digital quickly after she introduced her re-election bid, as she pointed to the longtime prime Democrat within the Senate.

Collins took to social media a few hours earlier to declare, "GOOD NEWS! I'm ALL-IN for 2026."

LONGTIME REPUBLICAN SENATOR MAKES A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber on the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photograph)

Democrats have lengthy focused the 73-year-old Collins, who was first elected to the Senate three a long time in the past, however hold arising quick.

"I will likely be outspent as I used to be in 2020, however luckily, Maine individuals are famously unbiased. They have a look at the person candidates, and so they do not simply essentially vote a celebration line," the senator stated.

Collins was one of many Senate Republicans who voted to convict after the Home impeached President Donald Trump in 2021, following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the president aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election outcomes.

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And Collins has earned Trump's ire with Senate votes that go towards the administration's needs.

Trump has up to now not made an endorsement within the pivotal contest, and has taken pictures at Collins all year long for breaking ranks with him and Republicans, notably when she voted in favor of bipartisan laws that will have reined in his struggle authorities in Venezuela.

Trump declared that Collins and the handful of different Republicans that voted with Democrats to curb his struggle powers "ought to by no means be elected to workplace once more."

"Republicans ought to be ashamed of the Senators that simply voted with Democrats in trying to remove our Powers to struggle and defend the US of America," Trump stated in a Reality Social submit on the time.

When requested if Trump ought to weigh in, or keep impartial within the contest, Senate Majority Chief John Thune stated, "I'd defer to Susan Collins on that."

"I feel she is aware of learn how to run in Maine. She's been extremely profitable there. She is a veteran campaigner who is aware of her state effectively and is aware of what works," Thune stated.

"So I'd, I suppose, defer to her on any choices which are made associated to her marketing campaign and what she want to see occur or not see occur when it comes to endorsements, however we will likely be all in attempting to make it possible for she will get re-elected," he continued.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins has earned President Donald Trump's ire with Senate votes that go towards the administration's needs. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photograph)

Her willingness to criticize Trump and to interrupt together with his insurance policies could also be useful to Collins, who wants assist from independents and a few Democrats to earn re-election.

"What I feel the President's criticism demonstrates is that I am unbiased in the way in which I strategy points. I have a look at what the impression is on the state of Maine and what the impression is on the nation and Mainers admire that," she advised Fox Information Digital.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, leaves the Republican Senate luncheon within the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Photographs)

Collins emphasised, "I assist President Trump after I suppose he is proper, I do not after I suppose he is unsuitable, and that is the strategy I've all the time taken with the entire presidents with whom I've labored. I’ve by no means agreed 100% with any of them. So, this President is extra outspoken while you disagree with him than earlier presidents, however I feel that I can totally justify how I've voted."

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However the Maine Democratic Celebration charged in an announcement that "Susan Collins has spent the final 30 years betraying Maine, from stripping Mainers’ inexpensive well being care, to casting the decisive vote to substantiate Supreme Courtroom justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, to voting with Donald Trump 94% of the time."

"She now faces a number of the lowest approval scores of her profession as a result of Mainers see by way of her political video games and faux exhibits of concern. In November, we are going to reject her on the poll field," added state celebration govt director Devon Murphy-Anderson.

Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. Tim Scott known as Collins "a battle-tested chief whose fierce independence has led to historic wins for Maine."

However in a closed-door NRSC briefing final week to Senate Republicans, Scott pointed to the most recent Fox News national poll which confirmed the GOP dealing with a poll field deficit, and stated it may impression particular Senate races this yr.

GOP sources confirmed to Fox Information Digital that Scott stated the hardest problem could also be in Maine.

Democratic senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a city corridor on the Leavitt Theater on Oct. 22, 2025, in Ogunquit, Maine. (Sophie Park/Getty Photographs)

Collins is more likely to face both two-term Democratic Gov. Jane Mills, who has the tacit assist of Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer and the DSCC, or political newcomer, veteran, and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who's backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, in November. The Democratic main, which is predicted to be aggressive, is scheduled for June.

Collins charged that Democrats are working "to distort my document," with Democratic-aligned outdoors teams operating advertisements "which are provably false and that is very disappointing. The individuals of Maine deserve higher."

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Requested whom she'd fairly face within the common election, Collins stated, "I go away that as much as the Democrats to resolve. I do know {that a} ton of out of doors cash goes to be poured into this race, no matter who the Democratic candidate is."

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based mostly within the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the marketing campaign path from coast to coast."