Jordan Wood, a Democrat from Lewiston, Maine, was the first person to announce a 2026 campaign challenge to Senator Susan Collins, and he made a priority of winning the endorsement of the mayor of his hometown. He met with Mayor Carl Sheline, a fellow Democrat, in his office and over drinks at a local Italian restaurant. They had a series of phone calls. But ultimately Mr. Sheline declined to back him.<\/p>\n
Ms. Collins, the longtime Republican incumbent, was not in the room, at the bar, or on the line.<\/p>\n
But she had made her presence known.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sheline had various reasons for withholding his support, he said in an interview. Among them, he acknowledged, were a housing project, a food distribution center, and a mill museum in Lewiston. Ms. Collins had helped with the finances for all of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an environment of possible retribution,\u201d Mr. Wood said. \u201cIt is that fear she instills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over nearly 30 years, Ms. Collins, a self-styled moderate in a familiar Maine mold, has cultivated a public persona as a workhorse and a fastidious maestro of constituent services and pork-barrel disbursements, using her Washington know-how to get her constituents what they need.<\/p>\n
Ms. Collins\u2019s voters gather before a debate with her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, in Bangor, Maine.Credit…Charly Triballeau\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/p>\n
But for just as long, her detractors say, she has managed to mostly mask another reality. \u201cThe gentlewoman from Maine,\u201d as her colleagues say on the Senate floor, is a formidable power broker who can play a fierce brand of politics with a how-dare-you air. According to more than 40 interviews with Republicans and Democrats in Maine politics, former staff, colleagues and longtime observers, Ms. Collins has wielded power not so much as a Yankee Republican but as a shrewd machine politician.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like Tammany Hall,\u201d said Amy Fried, a retired political scientist from the University of Maine. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get this benefit here if you vote for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lance Dutson, a Republican strategist and former aide to Ms. Collins, did not disagree.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what it is,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s openly discussing the fact that Maine is going to be set back if she\u2019s not in that position,\u201d he added. \u201cIt puts people in the position of very clearly understanding that voting against her is a vote against their own well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Collins\u2019s staff stresses that she has worked to bring money back to all communities in Maine \u2014 regardless of whether they support her.<\/p>\n
Annie Clark, a longtime aide to Ms. Collins, provided The New York Times an exhaustive list of projects, from Orono and Ogunquit to Belfast and Blue Hill, for which the senator had secured funding since 2021. The senator got $234 million for 96 projects in Cumberland and Knox counties \u2014 the only two counties she lost in 2020. In Portland, where she received just 21 percent of the vote: $51.2 million for 28 projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Collins has been extraordinarily effective,\u201d said Blake Kernen, a spokeswoman for Ms. Collins. \u201cShe works tirelessly to deliver results for the state, meets with thousands of Mainers every year, and she secures billions of dollars for communities in all of Maine\u2019s 16 counties whether they vote for her or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Collins, 73, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is running for re-election this fall the way she always has \u2014 no clickbait TikTok posts or big, rah-rah rallies, but a relentless focus on stops in small towns where she has brought home federal dollars for boat landings, emergency operations centers and wastewater treatment facilities.<\/p>\n
At her campaign events, supporters hold signs that underscore the point she is trying to make: \u201cThank You, Susan.\u201d<\/p>\n
In debates with Mr. Jackson, Ms. Collins stressed her ability to bring home federal money for Maine.Credit…Pool photo by Gregory A. Rec<\/p>\n
In debates this month with her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, a former logger and Maine Senate president, Ms. Collins was unsubtle about the crux of the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past five years I\u2019ve secured $1.5 billion for properties all over the state,\u201d she said<\/a>.<\/p>\n She was even more blunt in a radio interview this week, citing 672 projects that she had secured across the state, including 45 new fire stations.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that goes away,\u201d she said, \u201cif Troy were to be elected.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I have a lot of power\u2019<\/p>\n Her whole life has been a lesson in the accrual and use of power.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins was born and raised in Caribou in Aroostook County, the state\u2019s most northern terrain. The Collinses didn\u2019t just own and run the local lumber company and hardware store. They were politicos too.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents,\u201d Ms. Collins told The New York Times this past summer, \u201cboth served as mayor of Caribou. My father was in the State Senate, my grandfather, great-grandfather served in the state legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Collins grew up in Caribou, in the northern part of Maine.Credit…Charly Triballeau\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/p>\n Her parents were supporters of William S. Cohen when he ran for Congress in 1972 and beyond, and Ms. Collins was a driver and an intern for Mr. Cohen when she was in college at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. After she graduated, she was hired as an aide and was on his staff for a dozen years, known by her colleagues and peers as a meticulous note-taker and over-preparer.<\/p>\n She ran for governor in 1994 when she was 41 and lost. She ran for Senate in 1996 and won. She said she would serve no more than two terms but then ran for re-election in 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2020.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins with VFW members during her first run for Senate in 1996.Credit…CQ Archive\/CQARC, via Associated Press<\/p>\n Over the course of her three decades in the Senate, drafting off the renown of her cordial, consensus-building Maine forebears like Mr. Cohen and Senator George Mitchell, Ms. Collins has emphasized her image as the last of a vanishing breed. She has bucked her party, and in particular President Trump, more than enough to frustrate many Republicans \u2014 albeit not nearly enough to satisfy most Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m consistently sought out by both sides for cosponsorship of bills,\u201d she told The Times in her first year in the Senate. \u201cI have a lot of power \u2014 I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind closed doors, though, she long has had a reputation as a lone wolf.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins (right) and Olympia Snowe in 2009.Credit…Harry Hamburg\/Associated Press<\/p>\n Her relationship with Olympia Snowe, the Republican who was elected to the Senate from Maine two years before Ms. Collins and served three terms, was marked by rivalries and perceived slights, according to former aides to Maine lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Publicly, they issued joint statements and often voted together. Privately, the relationship was far more fraught, as is sometimes the case when a state is represented by two senators of the same party.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was just hypersensitive to Olympia getting more credit than she was,\u201d said Kurt Bardella, a former press secretary for Ms. Snowe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very machine-politicky: \u2018I am owed a certain level of stature and respect,\u2019\u201d Mr. Bardella recalled.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins confers with Senator Angus King on Capitol Hill in 2019.Credit…Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/p>\n Ms. Collins has a bristly relationship with Angus King, the independent junior senator from Maine, who defeated her in the governor\u2019s race in 1994 and succeeded Ms. Snowe in 2013. While they exchange occasional text messages, the two haven\u2019t spoken in months, according to people familiar with their communications who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. They last texted Oct. 12, according to Ms. Clark. Aides in Mr. King\u2019s office often are instructed to let Ms. Collins get the lion\u2019s share of the credit, they said, if that\u2019s what it takes to get a policy initiative accomplished.<\/p>\n When Mr. Wood announced his candidacy for Senate, he thought he knew what he needed to know about Ms. Collins. His campaign quickly became a window into what he did not know.<\/p>\n Jordan Wood, a Democrat, launched a campaign for Senate against Ms. Collins.Credit…Ryan David Brown for The New York Times<\/p>\n Elected Democrats and political donors, Mr. Wood said, told him Ms. Collins reviewed the lists of who gives more than $1,000 to whom \u2014 and kept score.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople told me they could not give me money because they knew she would look at the report,\u201d he said. \u201cDemocrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Clark, the spokeswoman for Ms. Collins, said the senator does not review such lists.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Mr. Wood\u2019s fledgling campaign was overwhelmed by the unexpected rise of Graham Platner, whose subsequent fall<\/a> precipitated Mr. Jackson\u2019s selection as the Democratic nominee. Still, he got an eye-opening tutorial in the sway of his state\u2019s senior senator.<\/p>\n Last November, when he ended his Senate campaign and switched to run instead for Maine\u2019s Second Congressional District, Mr. Wood couldn\u2019t help but notice the difference.<\/p>\n This time, Mr. Sheline, the Lewiston mayor, endorsed him right away.<\/p>\n \u2018We should be thankful\u2019<\/p>\n This month, politicking her way through the annual fall fair in Fryeburg, Maine, Ms. Collins walked from a cattle auction to a livestock barn, putting up with out-of-town press asking her questions about the president while trying to steer clear of manure.<\/p>\n \u201cI know you don\u2019t like me,\u201d she told one reporter, \u201cbut don\u2019t make me walk through shit.\u201d<\/p>\n She quickly changed the subject \u2014 to $38 million in federal aid for heating oil.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins campaigns at the Fryeburg Fair.Credit…Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI was delighted,\u201d she said, \u201cthat I was successful in expediting the funding.\u201d<\/p>\n That matters a lot, said Mr. Dutson, the senator\u2019s former aide.<\/p>\n \u201cFederal money is incredibly important up here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe choice a lot of people are facing right now is: OK, well, I can listen to the noise out of Washington or what my party tells me to do \u2014 or I can support the lady who got me a new fire truck in my 500-person town.\u201d<\/p>\n In the past few weeks in Maine, as Mr. Jackson has campaigned in front of large, loud crowds alongside progressive megastars such as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ms. Collins has brandished a shovel at a groundbreaking at a boat landing in Orrington and attended a grand opening of a wastewater facility in Windham.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins\u2019s opponent, Troy Jackson, has held rallies with progressive leaders including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.Credit…Charly Triballeau\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty ImagesMs. Collins at a groundbreaking event for a future sports center in Greenville, Maine.Credit…Taylor Coester\/Reuters<\/p>\n And in the stretch run of the race, people all over the state have received targeted text messages from her campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cSusan Collins delivered $33 million for Knox County \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSusan Collins has delivered nearly $59 million for the City of Bangor \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSusan Collins is delivering real results across Kennebec County \u2014 50 projects totaling more than $109.3 million \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Her supporters say it\u2019s why they trust her and one of the main reasons she should be re-elected.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat she produces is real \u2014 it\u2019s tactile,\u201d said Chris Gardner, the executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, who has appeared in an ad for Ms. Collins. \u201cWe should be thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Raye, a former Maine Senate president and Ms. Snowe\u2019s former longtime chief of staff, is an anti-Trump former Republican who is now an independent \u2014 \u201crooting,\u201d he said, for Democrats to take control of Congress. \u201cBut I\u2019m in the Collins camp,\u201d Mr. Raye said, citing her record of bipartisanship. \u201cThe thought of replacing her with a reliable partisan vote, no matter the party,\u201d he said, \u201cis so the wrong direction for America.\u201d<\/p>\n A protester holds signs near a campaign stop by Ms. Collins.Credit…Robert F. Bukaty\/Associated Press<\/p>\n But the calculation, her critics counter, is more complicated. Her vote to advance Mr. Trump\u2019s big domestic policy bill before she ultimately voted against it, her initial votes against setting congressional limits to military actions in Iran followed by eventual votes to do just that \u2014 all of it costs her constituents, they say, contributing to cuts to health care and higher prices for fuel, food and more. Many remain furious about her vote to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, a move that ultimately led to the end of Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s very good at cutting ribbons,\u201d said Betsy Sweet, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 and for Senate in 2020 against Ms. Collins. \u201cShe\u2019s also really good at cutting your health care.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, as she works to fend off her challenger in a tough year for Republicans, Ms. Collins\u2019s sharp political style has been apparent not just to political insiders but to voters as well.<\/p>\n In a recent interview with Politico, Ms. Collins was startlingly cutting about her opponent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know whether people know that or not.\u201d They did now.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a Susan people haven\u2019t seen,\u201d said Tony Payne, the executive director of the Republican Party of Maine in the 1970s who became an independent after the rise of Mr. Trump and a longtime critic of Ms. Collins. \u201cThis is the peeling off of the veneer.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing the Republican Party\u2019s candidates, aired a radio ad about Mr. Jackson with a crude jingle alluding to the relationship. After it had made the rounds, Ms. Collins told<\/a> reporters she \u201chad nothing to do with that ad,\u201d saying it should be removed from the air.<\/p>\n This week, Ms. Collins\u2019s campaign has been airing a TV ad that many in Maine considered elitist. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a cord of wood here, we\u2019re talking about the U.S. Senate, and Troy doesn\u2019t have the tools he needs to be effective,\u201d Bill Green, a well-known, retired local sportscaster, says in the ad<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins has served three decades in the Senate.Credit…Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than 30 years, Susan Collins has carefully concealed her intrinsic arrogance,\u201d Sam Patten wrote<\/a> in a post on social media castigating the ad. (Mr. Patten, a former aide to Ms. Collins, pleaded guilty<\/a> during the first Trump administration to failing to register as a foreign agent.)<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s very smart, and she works very hard,\u201d Mr. Patten told The Times. \u201cThere\u2019s an arrogance in everyone in Washington,\u201d he added, \u201cbut she never showed it before. She\u2019s always been careful not to.\u201d<\/p>\n Ted O\u2019Meara, a former aide to Ms. Snowe who also worked for Mr. Cohen alongside Ms. Collins and managed Eliot Cutler\u2019s campaigns for governor in 2010 and 2014, described it as a sense of entitlement. \u201cThe sense that there\u2019s nobody else that can do this job but me or do it as well as me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He stopped himself.<\/p>\n \u201cIs this on the record?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n It was.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019ll be pissed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kitty Bennett contributed research. Tim Balk contributed reporting from Fryeburg, Maine, and Esm\u00e9 E. Deprez from Caribou and Casco, Maine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Wood, a Democrat from Lewiston, Maine, was the first person to announce a 2026 campaign challenge to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[651,1452,859,75,84,83,46937,9,24,63,5285,855,1069],"class_list":["post-389282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-democratic-party","tag-donald-j","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-republican-party","tag-senate","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}