Sen. Susan Collins greets employees of Volk Packaging Corporation in Biddeford before touring the facility on Aug. 31. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)

Allegations that Sen. Susan Collins participated in a pay-to-play scheme may be resonating with the very swing voters Maine’s senior senator needs to win a sixth term in office.

It’s too soon to say what impact ProPublica’s reporting will have on Maine’s closely watched U.S. Senate race. But several voters who participated in a recent New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll said the report has nudged them more toward Democrats.

Last week, Portland resident Tara Wheeler said she was barely leaning toward supporting Democrat Troy Jackson. Wheeler said she was struggling with her decision, because she has personally benefited from Collins’ ability, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to bring home federal funding.

But after ProPublica’s explosive report Tuesday about an aborted federal investigation into whether Collins helped to steer defense contracts toward a company in exchange for political donations, Wheeler said her choice is clear.

“I’m very pro-Jackson,” Wheeler, a 44-year-old Democrat, said Monday without hesitation. “I just didn’t expect that from Susan Collins. … That pushed me over the edge like immediately.”

ProPublica’s report detailed illegal campaign contributions Navatek CEO Martin Kao made during Collins’ 2020 campaign. Kao claimed Collins would not meet with him unless he made a donation. He sent a $150,000 check to a pro-Collins super PAC using a limited liability company, since federal contractors are prohibited from donating to candidates. And Kao claimed Collins helped to steer tens of millions in federal contracts to his company.

The super PAC, called the 1820 PAC, was controlled by Scott Reed, a friend and former business partner of Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron. Financial disclosures from Collins show Daffron was paid at least $1,000 for consulting work last year at Chesapeake Enterprises, where Reed is the chairman.

This cycle, Reed is chairman of Pine Tree Results, a super PAC spending millions to reelect Collins.

A Collins campaign spokesperson said Monday that Daffron has nothing to do with Pine Tree Results and has not done any lobbying since marrying Collins in 2012.

Collins’ office and campaign denied ProPublica’s “outrageous” allegations, accusing the news organization and opponents of taking the word of a convicted felon, who was trying to get his prison sentence reduced. They also argued that Collins and her staff were cleared by the Biden administration.

But ProPublica pushed back on that response and defended its reporting, saying its story was based on a trove of records, not just on Kao’s word. And they noted that their reporting focused on a new, broader set of allegations made by Kao after Collins was reelected in 2020. That new investigation was ended when President Donald Trump took office in 2025 for a second term.

Collins campaign spokesperson Blake Kernen said the senator’s office has not been contacted by the FBI since the initial Biden investigation ended in 2021. “We will continue to vigorously rebut these false and desperate attacks,” Kernen said in an email.

The allegations threaten to erode Collins support from swing voters, who were crucial to her 2020 victory. A CNN exit poll showed that roughly 13% of Democrats supported Collins.

On Friday, Collins rallied supporters in Gorham, asking them for help pushing back against what she has described as a “smear job.”

“Let’s debunk these lies and let’s show the people of Maine that integrity still matters,” Collins said, according to a video posted online.

Jackson’s campaign needled Collins on social media and highlighted reporting on the allegations in a news release.

But the story is unlikely to move die-hard supporters on either side.

Melanie Mitchell, a 55-year-old Republican from Arundel, believes Collins was cleared by the Biden administration. She called Jackson “cringe,” saying he would not be able to do anything positive for Maine as a junior senator.

“Susan Collins is a senior senator,” Mitchell said. “She brings so much money back to Maine.”

But Margaret Daigle, an East Millinocket Democrat, is rethinking her support of Collins. She said the ProPublica article reminded her of the last-minute attacks against Hillary Clinton over her handling of classified emails during the 2016 presidential race.

Daigle, 73, said “it’s annoying” that these allegations have come out so late in the cycle. She said she may not know who she’s voting for until she steps into the booth and closes the curtain.

“I’m still undecided — this is crazy,” Daigle said. “It’s gonna come right down to the wire.”