Sen. Susan Collins is facing Graham Platner in a Maine race that could test whether voters prize seniority and federal funding over anti-Trump momentum.
Maine’s Senate race is becoming a test of whether voters are willing to trade one of the state’s most powerful seats in Washington for a sharper break with President Donald Trump and the Republican Senate majority.
Sen. Susan Collins, the 73-year-old Republican seeking a sixth term, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, a post that gives her unusual influence over federal spending. Her Democratic challenger, Graham Platner, is an oyster farmer and military veteran who has never held elective office and has built his campaign around economic frustration and anti-establishment anger, according to CNBC.
The stakes are larger than one seat. Collins is the lone New England Republican in Congress, and the race is unfolding as Democrats try to turn the midterms into a referendum on Trump. A May 13 report from BCA Research projected Republicans would retain a narrower Senate majority, but a Collins loss would still carry consequences for the balance of power and for Maine’s access to a senior appropriator.
Collins has made that argument central to her reelection case. Her office says she has secured nearly $1.5 billion in congressionally directed spending for Maine since earmarks were restored in 2021, including nearly $429 million in fiscal 2026. The money has gone to more than 650 projects across all 16 counties, including fire station upgrades, a roundabout in Cumberland, a rural health facility expansion in Calais and wastewater treatment improvements in Biddeford.
“Maine would lose a lot,” Collins told CNBC, arguing that even if Platner reached the Appropriations Committee as a freshman, it would take years to build the seniority and leverage she now has. Collins first won election in 1997 and became chair of the full committee in 2025; the last Maine senator to hold the gavel was Frederick Hale in 1932.
Platner’s campaign has not disputed that Collins has delivered federal project funding, but it argues the money has not changed daily life for working Mainers. A campaign spokesperson told CNBC that Collins’ record is outweighed by her votes, donors and time in Washington, saying, “after 30 years in Washington, Susan Collins has gotten rich while life has gotten worse for working Mainers.”
Collins also carries liabilities with voters opposed to Trump and the Republican agenda. CNBC noted her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who later joined the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and her recent vote for the SAVE Act, a voting bill critics say would make it harder to cast ballots. At the same time, she has split with Trump on some major issues, including voting to impeach him after Jan. 6 and opposing his 2025 tax and spending measure.
Mark Brewer, chair of the political science department at the University of Maine, told CNBC that Collins’ funding record is a major campaign weapon, but not necessarily a guarantee. Maine is moving blue, he said, while still remaining politically competitive enough for Collins to survive another difficult race.
For Maine voters, the decision is likely to come down to which risk feels larger: losing a senior senator with control over spending, or returning a Republican at a moment when control of Washington is again on the ballot.
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