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Republican Sen. Susan Collins is well aware of the tough path ahead as she officially kicks off her 2026 re-election campaign in blue-leaning Maine.
Collins is the top target for Senate Democrats as they try to win back the chamber’s majority in November’s midterm elections.
“Chuck Schumer has made me once again — this is the third time he’s done this — his number one target,” Collins said in an interview with Digital soon after she announced her re-election bid, as she pointed to the longtime top Democrat in the Senate.
Collins took to social media a couple of hours earlier to declare, “GOOD NEWS! I am ALL-IN for 2026.”
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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Democrats have long targeted the 73-year-old Collins, who was first elected to the Senate three decades ago, but keep coming up short.
“I will be outspent as I was in 2020, but fortunately, Maine people are famously independent. They look at the individual candidates, and they don’t just necessarily vote a party line,” the senator said.
Collins was one of the Senate Republicans who voted to convict after the House impeached President Donald Trump in 2021, following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the president aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
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And Collins has earned Trump’s ire with Senate votes that go against the administration’s wishes.
Trump has so far not made an endorsement in the pivotal contest, and has taken shots at Collins throughout the year for breaking ranks with him and Republicans, particularly when she voted in favor of bipartisan legislation that would have reined in his war authorities in Venezuela.
Trump declared that Collins and the handful of other Republicans that voted with Democrats to curb his war powers “should never be elected to office again.”
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time.
When asked if Trump should weigh in, or stay neutral in the contest, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “I would defer to Susan Collins on that.”
“I think she knows how to run in Maine. She’s been incredibly successful there. She is a veteran campaigner who knows her state well and knows what works,” Thune said.
“So I would, I guess, defer to her on any decisions that are made related to her campaign and what she would like to see happen or not see happen in terms of endorsements, but we will be all in trying to make sure that she gets re-elected,” he continued.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins has earned President Donald Trump’s ire with Senate votes that go against the administration’s wishes. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)
Her willingness to criticize Trump and to break with his policies may be beneficial to Collins, who needs support from independents and some Democrats to earn re-election.
“What I think the President’s criticism demonstrates is that I’m independent in the way I approach issues. I look at what the impact is on the state of Maine and what the impact is on the country and Mainers appreciate that,” she told Digital.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, leaves the Republican Senate luncheon in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Collins emphasized, “I support President Trump when I think he’s right, I don’t when I think he’s wrong, and that’s the approach I’ve always taken with all of the presidents with whom I’ve worked. I’ve never agreed 100% with any of them. So, this President is more outspoken when you disagree with him than previous presidents, but I think that I can fully justify how I have voted.”
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But the Maine Democratic Party charged in a statement that “Susan Collins has spent the last 30 years betraying Maine, from stripping Mainers’ affordable health care, to casting the decisive vote to confirm Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, to voting with Donald Trump 94% of the time.”
“She now faces some of the lowest approval ratings of her career because Mainers see through her political games and fake shows of concern. In November, we will reject her at the ballot box,” added state party executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. Tim Scott called Collins “a battle-tested leader whose fierce independence has led to historic wins for Maine.”
But in a closed-door NRSC briefing last week to Senate Republicans, Scott pointed to the latest national poll which showed the GOP facing a ballot box deficit, and said it could impact specific Senate races this year.
GOP sources confirmed to Digital that Scott said the toughest challenge may be in Maine.
Democratic senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on Oct. 22, 2025, in Ogunquit, Maine. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
Collins is likely to face either two-term Democratic Gov. Jane Mills, who has the tacit support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the DSCC, or political newcomer, veteran, and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, in November. The Democratic primary, which is expected to be competitive, is scheduled for June.
Collins charged that Democrats are working “to distort my record,” with Democratic-aligned outside groups running ads “that are provably false and that’s very disappointing. The people of Maine deserve better.”
Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills is running in 2026 to try and defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins. (Getty Images)
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Asked whom she’d rather face in the general election, Collins said, “I leave that up to the Democrats to decide. I know that a ton of outside money is going to be poured into this race, regardless of who the Democratic candidate is.”
