AUGUSTA — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson criticized Republican Sen. Susan Collins over the weekend for allegations of corruption and what he describes as her failure to push back against the Trump administration.
“I think Sen. Collins thinks we’re all stupid in this state and in this country,” he told reporters in Portland, according to CSPAN footage. “You can’t say on one hand I’m the most powerful person, I’m the chair of appropriations, don’t replace me, we’ll never be this powerful again, but all of these things she could have done something significant to stop she wouldn’t.”
Specifically, Jackson mentioned Collins’ vote to let the “big, beautiful bill” advance to the Senate floor, her support for $70 billion in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the war in Iran.
“She’s the chair of Appropriations,” he said. “She could leverage that to do so many things to stop what’s going on in this country.”
While Collins allowed the tax and spending bill to advance, she voted against it on the final vote. And on the war in Iran, Collins most recently voted with Democrats in support of a resolution to limit the president’s power.
As part of her campaign, she says she’s brought nearly $1.5 billion back to Maine to fund local projects in the last five years.
Jackson also said he thinks the story in ProPublica that broke last week alleging a pay to play scheme is the reason Collins hasn’t pushed back harder on Trump.
“Donald Trump owns her,” he said.
The Collins campaign disputes the ProPublica story, saying her campaign fully cooperated with an investigation into campaign contributions leading up to the 2020 election that resulted in the conviction of a defense contractor.
That contractor, Martin Kao, told federal officials just before his sentencing that he received assurances from a man raising money to reelect Collions that if he donated to the campaign, he would get federal contracts.
ProPublica reported that the FBI considered opening a new investigation into those claims, an effort thwarted when Trump fired several agents after his 2024 reelection.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Collins called the ProPublica story “clearly a partisan hit job.”
“He is a convicted liar,” she said. “When you contrast that to my decades of honest public service with the utmost integrity, it is so offensive.”
Jackson and Collins are locked in a close battle to win a seat both parties see as crucial to control of the Senate. Polls are showing a close race, and both candidates are campaigning hard to shore up support ahead of the Nov. 3 election.