Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Democratic challenger Graham Platner have released dueling campaign ads this week, marking their first advertising efforts since Gov. Janet Mills (D) suspended her Senate bid earlier this month.
Mills's exit from the race reshuffled the Democratic primary field, leaving Platner as the frontrunner for the nomination against Collins, who is seeking her sixth term in the Senate.
What the Right Is Saying
Collins released her own one-minute advertisement Tuesday featuring Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, praising the senator for her response when a breakwater collapsed overnight in December 2014.
Gardner describes how the collapse disrupted Maine's economy and brought uncertainty to the future of the deepest natural seaport in the continental United States. He says Collins called him before sunrise to offer assistance.
But prior to sunrise, we received a phone call from Sen. Susan Collins, who assured us that she would be there to help see it rebuilt," Gardner says in the ad. "Just having that assurance meant so much to this community."
Collins had helped secure a $6 million federal grant to renovate the breakwater in 2013 before construction was halted by the collapse. The structure eventually underwent a $15 million overhaul starting in 2017, using state, federal and city funds.
The breakwater has long been a part of Eastport's past, and with the help of Susan Collins, it'll always be a part of our future as well," Gardner says.
Collins recently made headlines by joining Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on a vote to curtail Trump's authority to resume military operations against Iran without congressional approval, becoming the first Republican to change her war powers stance since the conflict erupted in late February. The senator also revealed this week that she has a benign tremor causing occasional trembling in her hands, head and voice, which she says has no impact on her job performance.
I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate," Collins told NEWS CENTER Maine. "It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or how I feel each day."
What the Left Is Saying
Platner's campaign released a one-minute advertisement Thursday that sharply criticizes Collins for what it describes as "symbolic opposition" and "weak condemnation" of President Trump's administration.
The ad features footage of Platner speaking at what appears to be a campaign rally, with the candidate arguing that Collins has failed to deliver meaningful resistance on key issues including the conflict with Iran and abortion rights.
We don't care that you pretend to be remorseful at the start of a new Forever War that you chose to let happen," Platner says in the ad. "We don't care that you are concerned while we go broke as you sell us out to the President and to the Epstein class who are engineering the greatest redistribution of wealth from the working class to the ruling class in this nation's history."
The spot goes on to accuse Collins of failing to deliver on promises to voters, suggesting that what it calls "performative politics" should be disqualifying.
Selling out the same working-class voters who've delivered mandate for change after mandate for change is not forgivable," Platner states.
Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer, has positioned himself as an antidote to the political establishment, running a Senate campaign built on populist rhetoric and progressive policy positions. His campaign announced after Mills's exit that he would no longer participate in upcoming Democratic primary debates to focus on defeating Collins in November.
What the Numbers Show
Mills suspended her bid earlier this month amid trailing poll numbers, according to reports from The Hill and other outlets covering the race.
Collins secured $6 million in federal grant funding for the Eastport breakwater project in 2013. The eventual reconstruction cost $15 million starting in 2017.
The senator is 73 years old and serving her fifth term in the Senate, having first been elected in 1996.
Maine's June 9 primary elections will determine both party nominees before the general election matchup.
The Bottom Line
The dueling advertisements signal that both campaigns are moving into a more aggressive phase as the primary season approaches and the general election comes into sharper focus. Platner's ad targets Collins's relationship with the Trump administration, while Collins's spot emphasizes her long record of constituent service in Maine. With Mills out of the race, Democrats have consolidated behind Platner, setting up what is expected to be a competitive matchup against one of the Senate's most moderate Republicans. The outcome could affect the balance of power in a chamber where individual votes often determine major legislation.