Source: Politics<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump would like to see a \u201cbetter option\u201d<\/a> than Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins to represent the state. He probably can\u2019t get one.<\/p>\n The moderate GOP senator causes frequent headaches for the White House when it comes to securing her crucial vote, which is needed to pass key elements of Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n That\u2019s led White House officials to discuss a potential Collins replacement<\/a> in the state if she opts not to run for reelection, though there are no thoughts of actually launching a primary challenge.<\/p>\n But in a state that continues to trend blue, local Republicans warned, Collins is effectively the lone Republican who can fend off high-level Democratic challengers in the state. Republicans point to her seniority in the upper chamber and appropriations role as unique advantages no other candidate would match. And while Collins may frustrate the MAGA wing, a different Republican more in line with Trump\u2019s agenda would also be much more likely to lose the seat.<\/p>\n For Collins to drop out \u201cmay be for very conservative people a wish list item,\u201d said Andre Cushing, a Penobscot County commissioner and former Republican state senator.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, candidly, I think she\u2019s made her announcement and she is the kind of person that doesn\u2019t do those things lightly,\u201d Cushing said. \u201cShe certainly has my support even when I disagree with her.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins\u2019 unique position in Maine shows the limits of Trump’s political power. The president has been fiddling with all levers of the midterms equation \u2014 ordering Texas Republicans<\/a> to redraw a map, pressuring battleground House Republicans to seek reelection rather than run for higher office and now exploring primary challenges against the handful of incumbents who have bucked him. Collins, the Senate Appropriations Chair, has been frustrated<\/a> by White House attempts to clawback spending that she supports, and has been vocal about her disagreements.<\/p>\n There appears to be little appetite \u2014 in either party \u2014 for challenging Collins, who won reelection by 9 points in 2020, despite Joe Biden easily winning the state.<\/p>\n That victory, which followed record Democratic spending and a wave of public polls suggesting Collins would lose, has left Democrats facing their own struggles<\/a> to find a formidable challenger this year, even as they point to her dipping approval rating.<\/p>\n Top Maine Democrats including former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who ran against Collins in 2014, have opted to run for the state\u2019s open governorship instead. Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District is running for reelection.<\/p>\n That has left national Democrats without a top recruit in what should be one of their most competitive offensive targets. Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited, would be their top recruit. But Mills, 77, is older than Collins, 72, and the two women have generally had a good working relationship. The Democratic governor doesn’t seem eager for what would likely be a bruising Senate battle.<\/p>\n Even as some Republicans in Washington grow frustrated with Collins, there is no appetite to primary her back home.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think any reasonable person that might be interested in that position would think about challenging her,\u201d said Maine GOP strategist Alex Titcomb.<\/p>\n Collins has already publicly indicated plans to run for reelection. Her fundraising surged in the second quarter of the year, according to campaign finance reports filed this week. And a super PAC planning to back her said it raised $5.6 million<\/a> so far this year. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is already cutting digital ads for Collins<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats’ best hope to flip the seat would be if Collins did not seek reelection. Republicans would have to scramble in their attempts to find a replacement \u2014 she is the only GOP candidate to win statewide in Maine since 2014.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody knows that Susan Collins is a gift to the Republican Party in Maine,\u201d said Garrett Mason, the former Maine Senate majority leader and GOP gubernatorial candidate.<\/p>\n Collins has ruffled some GOP feathers in the first six months of Trump\u2019s term with high-profile votes to oppose his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the sprawling \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n A similar dynamic played out during Trump\u2019s first term in office, when conservatives slammed her vote against the Affordable Care Act repeal<\/a>. But Collins largely rallied the Republican base in her favor for her 2020 reelection campaign, even earning an endorsement from former Gov. Paul LePage, who had previously been critical of her<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Republicans in the state know that when it comes to Maine\u2019s Senate seat, there is no \u201cbetter option.\u201d A Collins retirement \u2014 or primary loss \u2014 likely means the GOP loses the seat. And many in the state still pride themselves on her senior status in the Senate, something even another Republican could not immediately replicate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone were able to run against her and by chance beat her, that would be a really bad thing for Maine,\u201d said Mason, the former majority leader. \u201cBut I just don\u2019t see that happening. That\u2019s not what\u2019s on the ground here.\u201d<\/p>\n