Sen Susan Collins launches 2026 re-election campaign bid in Maine

Republican Senator Suzanne Collins She is well aware of the difficult path ahead of her as she officially begins her 2026 re-election campaign in blue-leaning Maine.

Collins is the first target for Senate Democrats in their attempt to regain the majority in the Senate in the midterm elections in November.

“Chuck Schumer “He once again made me — this is the third time he’s done this — his number one target,” Collins said in an interview with Fox News Digital shortly after announcing she was seeking re-election, referring to the Senate’s top Democrat.

Collins took to social media two hours ago to announce: “Good news! I’m in for 2026.”

The longtime Republican senator makes a major announcement

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, leaves the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Democrats have long targeted Collins, 73, who was elected for the first time Senate Three decades ago, but continued to appear briefly.

“I will spend more than I did in 2020, but fortunately, Maine people are famously independent. They look at individual candidates, and they don’t necessarily vote along a party line,” the senator said.

Collins was one of the Senate Republicans who voted to convict after the House impeached the president Donald Trump In 2021, following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of the president aiming to overturn Congress’s certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Is the Republican Senate majority in danger in the midterm elections?

Collins has angered Trump with Senate votes that go against the administration’s wishes.

Trump has yet to endorse him in the pivotal contest, and has criticized Collins throughout the year for falling out of line with him and Republicans, especially when she voted for bipartisan legislation that would have reined in his war powers in Venezuela.

Trump declared that Collins and a handful of other Republicans who voted with Democrats to limit his war powers “should never be elected to office again.”

“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators who just voted with the Democrats to try to take away our powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social at the time.

When asked whether Trump should intervene or remain neutral in the race, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “I will defer to Suzanne Collins on this.”

“I think she knows how to run in Maine. She’s had incredible success there. She’s a veteran activist who knows her state well and knows what works,” Thune said.

“So I think I’ll defer to her on any decisions that are made in terms of her campaign and what she’d like to see happen or not happen in terms of endorsements, but we’re all going to try to make sure she gets re-elected,” he continued.

Republican Senator Susan Collins has angered President Donald Trump with Senate votes that go against the administration’s wishes. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

Her willingness to criticize Trump and break with his policies may be beneficial to Collins, who needs the support of independents and some Democrats to win re-election.

“I think the president’s criticism shows that I’m independent in the way I approach issues. I look at what impact this has on the state of Maine and what impact it has on the country and Mainers appreciate that,” she told Fox News Digital.

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, leaves the Republican Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Collins asserted, “I support President Trump when I think he’s right, and I don’t support him when I think he’s wrong, and that’s the approach I’ve always taken with all the presidents I’ve served with. I’ve never agreed 100% with any of them. So, this president is more vocal when you disagree with him than previous presidents, but I think I can fully justify the way I voted.”

Trump criticizes GOP war defectors, says they ‘should not be elected to office again’

But the Maine Democratic Party charged in a statement that “Susan Collins has spent the last 30 years betraying the state of Maine, from stripping Mainers of affordable health care, to casting the deciding vote to confirm Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, to voting with Donald Trump 94% of the time.”

Added Devon Murphy Anderson, the party’s state executive director: “She now faces some of the lowest approval ratings of her career as Mainers see through her political gamesmanship and phony displays of concern. In November, we will reject her at the ballot box.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Sen. Tim Scott called Collins “a battle-tested leader whose fierce independence led to historic victories for Maine.”

But in a closed-door NRSC briefing last week to Senate Republicans, Scott pointed to the latest Fox News National Poll Which showed the GOP is facing a deficit at the polls, and said it could impact certain Senate races this year.

GOP sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that Scott said the toughest challenge may be in Maine.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Blattner speaks at a town hall at Levitt Theater on October 22, 2025, in Ogunquit, Maine. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)

Collins will likely 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 and veteran oyster farmer Graham Blattner, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, in November. The Democratic primary, which is expected to be competitive, is scheduled for June.

Collins accused Democrats of working to “tarnish my record,” with outside groups allied with Democrats running ads that are “possibly false and this is very disappointing. The people of Maine deserve better.”

Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, is running in 2026 to try to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins. (Getty Images)

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Asked who she would prefer to face in the general election, Collins said: “I leave that to the Democrats to decide. I know there’s going to be a lot of outside money pumped into this race, regardless of who the Democratic nominee is.”