BANGOR, Maine — The marathon debate in Maine’s Senate race is over, but there’s still one unanswered question: Exactly how tall will President Donald Trump be in November?
That question was at the center of clashes between Democrat Troy Jackson and longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins as they faced off in four debates over the past two weeks, including a finale Thursday hosted by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the Portland Press Herald and Portland’s NBC affiliate WCSH.
Jackson is betting that voters’ views of Trump, who never won Maine, will dominate their opinion of this Senate race, which could determine which party controls the chamber next year.
He repeatedly linked Collins to Trump during the four debates. Collins, meanwhile, has tried to appeal to Mainers who want a senator willing to break with his party.
“I have voted against my own party more often than any other senator on either side of the aisle,” Collins said during the final debate. “That’s not something Troy will ever be able to say. He will automatically vote for the Democratic position no matter what. We’ve lost a lot of centrists, and one of the reasons I’m running again is because we need people who will work across party lines.”
Jackson countered: “The reality is that 100 percent of the time, when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins will be there. It’s happened time and time again.”
Trump’s policies were closely tied to major topics covered in the four debates, including high costs, the war in Iran, immigration control and the ongoing trade war with Maine’s neighbor Canada.
On Thursday, Collins was also pressed for support for some Trump Cabinet officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She said she did not regret voting to confirm him, while noting that she disagreed with Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism. Collins said Kennedy helped release more funds from a program aimed at helping low-income Mainers buy heating oil amid soaring prices.
Jackson, meanwhile, said he would vote to convict Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on impeachment charges.
“But that’s not my goal,” he quickly added. “My goal is to provide health care, prescription drugs, child care, the things that Maine people need more than ever, and to get out of the war in Iran so we can stabilize prices. »
Tensions were high after four consecutive debates. This one was the first in front of a live audience, with about 200 people gathered in a theater at Husson University.
About 20 minutes into the debate, a young man stood up and shouted his concerns about data centers, saying he was afraid for the future.
“Thirty years for what? the protester shouted as he was escorted from the theater, referencing Collins’ time in the Senate.
Collins claimed the protester was a Jackson supporter, and Jackson remarked, “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.”
As the protester questioned her decades in the Senate, Collins argued that her seniority made her an effective advocate for Maine. She often touts her role as chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, saying she helped bring in huge amounts of federal money to fund projects in the state.
Collins emphasized that she has broken with Trump on some key issues, noting that she voted against Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending law last year, although she voted to allow the measure to pass.
“I nevertheless voted against the bill, even though it was the president’s top legislative priority. I also voted against the president nine times on the war in Iran,” she said.
Jackson argued that Collins could have done more to oppose military action.
When asked where he would break with his own party, Jackson emphasized his commitment to not accepting donations from corporate political action committees.
“I think the Democrats are still too close to it,” Jackson said. “I don’t accept corporate PACs. I don’t accept corporate money. This is a campaign to fight for everyday workers, and that’s something I’ve been consistent about.”
Collins attempted to undermine that argument, using his only question to ask Jackson about ads run in coordination with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which accepts money from corporate PACs.
Jackson countered that he did not approve of the ads. While acknowledging having benefited from the support of billionaires, he declared his campaign is fueled by small donors.
Jackson raised more than $20 million from July to September, according to a fundraising report filed Thursday. That’s nearly four times Collins’ $5.2 million haul during the same period.
Jackson, a former Senate president and state lumberjack, then pressed Collins about his claims that he couldn’t be effective in the Senate.
“I have experience fighting for working class people, and they deserve a senator who respects them. Is it just me you despise, or is it the working class as a whole?” he asked.
“Troy, I don’t look down on you or anyone. I grew up in Caribou. My first job was picking potatoes,” Collins replied, saying she had been working “literally” since she was 10 years old.
“I supported all social welfare programs,” she later said.
Collins’ experience in the Senate is one of the main reasons her supporters are supporting her for a sixth term.
“He’s just not strong on the mechanics of government,” Collins supporter Mary Ann Lynch said of Jackson. Lynch is a lifelong Democrat but supports Collins. And she said in a phone interview Wednesday that the debates haven’t changed her mind.
“Just watching the debates, it’s hard for me to say that if we sent Troy Jackson to Washington, he would ever be able to find his way to leadership,” said Lynch, 71, a former Cape Elizabeth City Council member.
But Jackson’s willingness to tie Collins to Trump resonates with voters who are inclined to support him, like Dan Tremble.
Tremble, a Penobscot County commissioner, said he was “pretty solid” in his decision to support Jackson as he entered the Bangor theater Thursday night.
“Susan Collins has done a lot for the state of Maine,” Tremble, 61, a Democrat, said when asked why he wasn’t sure whether to support Jackson. “But I think having him in the Senate would still leave the president with a majority in the United States Senate, and that’s very concerning with this president.”
“He says, ‘Vote like I’m on the ballot,'” Tremble added, referring to Trump. “I will.”
CORRECTION (October 15, 2026, 10:17 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Cabinet Secretary Troy Jackson, who said he would vote for an impeachment conviction. It was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, not Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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