Collins, Jackson trade jabs in final Maine Senate debate: 3 takeaways
The Hill · C · trust 48/100
Comments: by Finya Swai - 10/15/26 9:08 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Finya Swai - 10/15/26 9:08 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) faced off against Democratic candidate Troy Jackson on Thursday in the final Senate debate before Maine voters head to the polls.
The two traded jabs over President Trump, campaign financing, immigration reform and their voting record as the Senate race enters its final stretch.
Collins stressed her bipartisan approach to voting and did not blindly follow her party or Trump, while Jackson, a former state Senate president, repeatedly looked to tie her to Trump’s agenda.
The hour-long debate, hosted by Maine Public in collaboration with The Portland Herald, heated up as the two levied accusations at one another.
At one point, a protester off camera interrupted the debate, and could be heard shouting at Collins, “AI data centers are destroying our climate.”
“This is obviously one of Troy’s supporters,” Collins said, which Jackson quickly denied.
The closely watched race has Collins, a five-term incumbent, fighting to hold onto her seat in blue-leaning Maine, against Jackson, who became the party’s nominee after Graham Platner dropped out due to sexual assault allegations and a texting scandal.
Collins looked to distance herself from Trump and other members of his administration but faced questions about whether her opposition to the president has actually changed the outcome of major votes in Washington, D.C.
When asked to name a time where she voted against Trump and significantly changed the outcome, Collins pointed to her efforts to block Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation.
Collins said she had organized Republican opposition to his nomination, but another GOP senator changed his mind at the last minute. She was quickly called out for not changing the outcome of a vote, with Hegseth still leading the Pentagon.
The Maine Republican acknowledged that while her effort ultimately fell short, an analysis had found 56 instances in which her votes changed an outcome. Collins did not specify which votes she was referencing.
Jackson pounced on the moment and accused Collins of only breaking with Trump and the GOP when her vote is not needed.
“The reality is that 100 percent of the time, when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins is going to be there,” Jackson said.
The Democrat pointed to Collins’s vote to advance Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, despite her eventual opposition to the final legislation.
Collins pushed back, arguing that a broader review of her record showed she sided with the president 72 percent of the time, rather than 90 to 100 percent as claimed.
She also touted her record of voting to confirm three liberal Supreme Court justices — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Kentanji Brown Jackson — who were nominated by different Democratic presidents in the past.
Collins turned the tables on Jackson during a fiery exchange over campaign financing, accusing the Democrat of breaking his promise to reject money from billionaires and corporate political action committees.
Jackson admitted Thursday that his Senate campaign received donations from billionaires despite the promise, receiving a noticeable reaction from the audience.
“As far as the billionaires that I might have on my campaign, that is accurate,” Jackson said, before insisting that the contributions would not influence his votes.
“I’m going to tax those billionaires when I get to the U.S. Senate,” he continued. “So, if they want to give me money during this campaign, I guess that’s up to them.”
He acknowledged receiving $15,000 from the oil and pharmaceutical industry, saying he had donated the money to charities in keeping up with his campaign pledge.
Collins also criticized Jackson for missing his self-imposed deadline to release his campaign finance report by one day, which he said was delayed because of the flurry of contributions his campaign had received.
The Iran war emerged as a major point of contention in the debate, with Jackson arguing that Collins had failed to use her powerful position as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to help put an end to the conflict.
“The way to block it now would be to shut off funding,” he said.
Collins has repeatedly criticized Trump’s handling of the war and pointed to numerous votes she cast against continuing military operations.
Jackson also pointed to the conflict’s effects on the economy, including rising fuel prices that have hit Maine’s fishing and logging industries particularly hard.
Collins argued that Congress should have had a say in the decision to go to war.
“Congress definitely should have been consulted,” she said, defending her votes to halt the conflict after the initial 60-day period under the War Powers Act.
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