Sen. Susan Collins struggled to name a time when her opposition to Pres. Donald Trump had changed the outcome of a vote during Thursday night’s fourth and final debate with Democrat Troy Jackson, who argued that the Republican senator’s claims of independence haven’t translated into meaningful resistance to the president’s agenda.
Asked by a moderator to identify a time when she voted against Trump and her party and significantly changed the outcome, Collins pointed to her efforts to defeat Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation. But Hegseth was ultimately confirmed after another Republican senator changed his mind.
“So that didn’t change the outcome,” responded Phil Hirschkorn, a political reporter with New Center Maine.
Collins acknowledged that her effort had fallen short but maintained that she frequently votes against her party. Jackson argued that Collins’ opposition comes when she already knows it won’t affect the result.
“The reality is that 100% of the time when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins is going to be there,” Jackson said. “The votes that she throws away are managed votes that she already knows the outcome.”
On housing, Collins acknowledged that legislation she championed had dropped protections for mobile home park residents against private equity investors during negotiations. Asked why those protections were removed, Collins said she was not a member of the committee responsible and did not know what went into the decision.
Jackson criticized Republicans for excluding manufactured housing communities from the legislation, pointing to residents of a mobile home park in Caribou who he said had been without water for three days. He also highlighted his work in the Maine Legislature helping manufactured housing residents purchase their parks through cooperatives.
The candidates also addressed the influence of wealthy donors in elections. Moderators noted that outside groups had already spent $200 million on the Senate race, including $75 million from anonymous or difficult-to-trace sources.
Jackson called for overturning Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for unlimited independent political spending, while Collins expressed support for greater donor disclosure.
The candidates disagreed over reforming the Supreme Court. Jackson supported enforceable ethics rules, term limits and potentially expanding the number of justices, criticizing the influence of wealthy donors on the court. Collins opposed expansion, arguing that it would make the court more political.
“We have the best court that money can buy right now,” Jackson said, “and I think that has to be turned over.”
Collins also defended her vote to confirm Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite disagreeing with his views linking vaccines to autism. When pressed on whether she regretted supporting his confirmation, Collins said no.
On gun safety, Jackson said he would support banning future purchases of assault weapons while allowing current owners to keep theirs. Collins did not commit to a renewed assault weapons ban but supported restrictions on magazine capacity and said she was open to raising the minimum purchase age to 21.
The debate was the fourth and final scheduled face-off between the candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
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