Today, Explained - Susan Collins, political ninja

Episode Date: October 19, 2026

The Maine senator has dodged decades of attacks, but President Trump’s low approval ratings could be her political deathblow. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy and Dustin DeSoto, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) is seen before her debate with Democratic candidate for the Senate Troy Jackson in Bangor, Maine on October 15, 2026. Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today explained producer Denise Guerra wanted to make a show about Susan Collins. But today explained host, Sean Ramoswaram was like... Boring. But then Denise said... She's like a ninja. Susan Collins is not Denise's beat, though, so we asked Alex Siteswalled from Maine's Mid-Coast Villager. He's writing about her race, which could decide the balance of the United States Senate. Ninja would not be the first thing that comes to mind when I think about Susan Collins,

but actually pretty good comparison. She's quiet. She is flexible. She's quick. She can do things that seem impossible. She's lasted a lot longer than any Republican in New England or a blue state like her. Susan Collins is a ninja. On the 2000th episode of Today Explained from Vox.

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constitutional amendment passes or not. Twelve years is long enough to be in public service, make a contribution, and then come home and let someone else take your place. Maine is a state that likes term limits. There are term limits in the state legislature. We like these kind of election reforms, good government reforms.

We have public financing of campaigns. We have ranked choice voting. And part of Susan Collins' initial appeal was that she promised to only serve a limited amount of time and then return to Maine. That's obviously not what's happened. But she defends that decision stridently. And she says, I underestimated how much seniority experience and knowledge matters in the Senate.

So I need to be reelected. You need to send me back so that I can leverage the seniority that I've accrued to do what Maine needs. It's such a classic. I haven't heard of that since Joe Biden. doing this a long time. And I honest to God have never more optimistic about America's future if we stick together. Watching her, it does feel a bit like watching a politician or a debate from another era that's not quite bygone because she's still there and she might win again, but she is a legislator, an appropriator, and she views that job very seriously. She takes it

very seriously. And it's worked for her so far. And I do think there are a lot of people in Maine who still respect that and still want that. But it's a dwindling number. And every time she's up for re-election, the question is, you know, has that number now dropped below the threshold that she needs to win? Okay, well, let's talk about what she's delivered for Mainers in her almost 30 years in office, even though back in the 90s she said she'd only run for two terms, which is 12. As she approaches maybe another six, what does she accomplish and what has kept her in office? Well, it might surprise a lot of people to hear, but one of the few things that Republicans and Democrats in Maine will agree on is that Susan Collins has delivered a lot for the state.

You can go on her website and see a map of projects that she's helped fund as chair of the Appropriations Committee, which is where the money actually gets spent, you know, down to the line item of individual projects. And this map is just covered in red dots. You can look around at all the towns around me and there's a culvert here, a library there, a museum here, a historical society. and I talk to these people and these are small, struggling institutions that are funded through a combination of donations and taxpayer dollars and property taxes are going up.

No one wants to spend money on these things. And then it's like manna from heaven when a federal grant that Susan Collins helps secure just falls out of the sky and all of a sudden the roof of the historical society is fixed. Or the fire department gets that new fire truck that was going to be a quarter of the entire

town's annual budget. Or the, we have a little transportation museum at the airport in Owlshead, and she got this whole STEM education center that would never have been funded. So people really do feel tangible impacts of what she's done, projects she's funded, and they remember that. She's been around so long. She's accrued a lot of goodwill and personal relationships through this work. I was talking to somebody who was saying that their mother is a liberal, a feminist, is horrified by the Dobbs decision, but is still going to vote for Susan Collins because she's the vice chair of the local library and Collins saved the library and so she feels obligated to vote for her.

That's amazing. I'm mad about Dobbs and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but she did hook up the libraries. Exactly. I mean, it's old school, retail, transactional, you know, even patronage politics, but it's tangible. And it's a thing that is felt in people's lives in a big way. And I think that's kind of what this whole election is coming down to. If the median Maine voter is going to the polls thinking who is best for Maine, I think Susan Collins wins. You mentioned Dobbs, and I think a lot of people,

associate Susan Collins somehow with this decision that, you know, she certainly did an author. And this isn't the only vote in recent memory where Susan Collins has certainly alienated Democrats, but even perhaps some moderates in Maine who would typically vote for her, right? Absolutely. I mean, she's alienated, especially Democrats, but moderates on a ton of things. The one big, beautiful bill has been, which I always feel ridiculous saying that name. but that is actually what it's called. That was a huge one because Susan Collins has also positioned herself as a champion of Medicaid. We're rare in the Republican Party and expanding Medicaid.

She fought with the former Republican governor of Maine who didn't want to expand Medicaid, but she voted to help advance the one big beautiful bill, which cut Medicaid. And she says that she did vote for it in a procedural motion, even though she voted against it ultimately, but she did the earlier in favor vote so that she could insert a provision to get some money for rural health care, which is another great example

of how she kind of tries to triangulate this stuff. She'll take one vote for it, one vote against it, and she can point to whichever vote is most expedient to the audience that she's talking to. That's maybe the cynical view of looking at, the more higher-minded view is she says, well, you want me in these rooms, talking to Donald Trump, talking to Republicans, because I can insert this extra amendment to get more money for rural health care.

They never would have let a Democrat in that room in the first place. So, you know, maybe I didn't like this overall bill, but because I was there, because I was a Republican, because I was willing to play ball with them, I was able to add this little thing to make something that she would agree was bad, slightly less bad. It's funny. You know, when we talk about these big votes, like the big, beautiful bill or Kavanaugh on the same thing. Supreme Court or whatever it might be, where Susan Collins alienates Democrats and progressives and certainly some Mainers who wish she were someone else. Are they just missing the fact that Susan Collins is a Republican? No.

These Democratic manors, liberal manors who have been voting for Susan Collins, they know very well that she's a Republican. They're not missing that. They like the idea of voting for a Republican who's the right kind of Republican. She's the end of an era. Like when she leaves, if she leaves, that's kind of it for this brand of politics that used to be huge and influential, not just in New England, but across the country. I mean, these were politicians who were majority leaders in the Senate. They ran for president.

These were major voices on the national stage. these kind of moderate, statesmen, competent, institutionalist, Yankee Republicans. The main Republican Party today looks nothing like Susan Collins. The up-and-coming Republican leaders look much more like Donald Trump or any other national Republican figure, de Jure, than they do like Susan Collins. And whether you love her, hate her, or feel indifferent, it's a major, historic kind of watershed end of an era whenever she does finally leave.

Donald Trump, the third candidate in this main Senate race, when today explained returns. Support for the show comes from found running a business is a lot like being a duck. Wow, I didn't know that. You have to move along the surface smoothly, almost effortlessly,

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Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com. Disclosures for details. The support from Today Explain comes from Vanta. Vanta says as AI adoption grows, so do your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team probably isn't getting any bigger. While most compliance tools promise automation, you might actually end up stuck doing all

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whether your team is in VANA every day or living in tools like Claude or Cursor. You can join the more than 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Writer, and Harvey, who save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanda.com slash explains, spelled V-A-N-T-A-com slash explain. I was successful in getting concrete, pulp, and road salt removed from today explained. My name's Dan Marica. I'm a reporter with The Washington Post, and I am the anchor of our flagship political newsletter, the early brief. Great. And where are you right now? I'm currently in the parking lot of an M&T bank in Biddeford, Maine. I've been talking to voters for

most of the day, and I am covering a Troy Jackson event later in the day and speaking with him. Tell me how this race got to be so fascinating, because I don't think Maine is typically like the hub of our most exciting politics in the United States. Maine, this cycle, was going to be interesting no matter what. Susan Collins is, I believe, the only Republican senator who is running for re-election in a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024 this cycle. So no matter what, this was going to be a fascinating race. But since the outset, it has really defined, I think, these midterm elections. The rise of Graham Platner, the oysterman-turned-politician, really hinted at the populist

anti-establishment fervor that was in the Democratic base. We have watched this state become essentially unlivable for working-class people. That fervor was so strong that it prevented the sitting incumbent. Democratic governor from winning the primary here in Maine to challenge Susan Collins. I think that said a lot about the Democratic Party. Obviously, Graham Platner's campaign then flamed out, and he ended his campaign because of the allegations of sexual assault against him. We are suspending campaign operations.

This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. But then you have the Collins angle of it, and she is really kind of the, I would say, the poster candidate for a Republican who in this election where Donald Trump's approval rating is so low, she's having to basically suspend political gravity above him in a state that really does not approve of the job that he's done as president. And we've been talking a bit about her relationship with the president. And I want to ask you more about it. But before we do, I just want to ground this conversation a bit in how voters in Maine feel about him right now.

because I know you've been talking to voters a bunch, including literally today. So what is the vibe out there? Are people mad, moderating their feelings? What? There's a lot of anger for the president here. Maine is in a unique position where it's been on the receiving end of a lot of what those people who are mad at Trump would say, you know, harm that he has caused this state. It's a border state. It borders Canada. There's a ton of cross-border relationships. And so his attacks on Canada, his suggestions, that it's going to be the 51st state. They'll end up being the 51st state because it's the only way it works. Has really hurt the state of Maine because it's hurt tourism in the state. Many Canadians come down south from their perch to vacation in Maine.

And there's been a drop in tourism because of those Canadian fight with Canada. The tariffs have hurt Maine because so much of the wood and the lumber that is grown and cut here in Maine is actually shipped up north to Canada to be processed. and then what it is processed as is shipped back across the United States. So the tariffs have been incredibly harmful for the state. And then you have ICE. I'm in Biddeford. There was a shooting of an individual here in Biddeford.

Protesters in Mayn are demanding answers after local officials say an immigration agent shot and killed a man in his car. I don't know what he did, but he didn't deserve to be executed in the street. That has been an issue in this race as well. So there's a lot of anger at the president. And you could, it's very easy to feel that when you're talking to voters. I actually just spoke with a voter who voted for Troy Jackson and dropped his ballot in an early voting box. And I just asked him, what we, you know, what did you vote for? Who'd you vote for? Why did you vote? And he got visibly emotional when he started talking about the Trump administration and how scared he was for the future of democracy and that that was why he was voting for Troy Jackson. I've also talked to voters who, supported Susan Collins just six years ago in the middle of a at the end of the first Trump administration, they voted for her back then and they feel like the last six years have made it impossible for them to vote for her again. And then on the other side, you have people who are

you know, hardcore, diehard Trump supporters. And they actually think that Susan Collins has been too hard on the president. So she's in a really, you know, tough spot politically, where on her left, there are a lot of voters, including some who have voted for her. for her recently, are furious, frankly, with her, who don't think she stands up to the president enough. And then on her right, there are voters who thinks she does too much, that she stands up to the president too much. And I think that really encapsulates the difficult position she's in politically. It's funny to think about these two figures representing the same political party, because while they might agree on, you know, a few issues here and there, they couldn't represent

more different brands of... of republicanism, I figure, from maybe a bygone time and, of course, our present day. What is the truth of how much Susan Collins sides with Donald Trump? So, you know, she has sided with the president at time. She has voted against the president at times. I was struck in the debate on Thursday. I think she said, I have worked with five presidents. I've only supported the campaign of one of those five.

George Bush. I was just in Kinnabunk, which is right next to Kinnabunk Port, which is, you know, historical location for the Bush family. They have a large home at Walker Point. There is some relationship between the Bush family, obviously, and Maine. That makes sense that Susan Collins really does kind of line up more with the Bush-style Republican Party than she does the Trump-style Republican Party. What's her actual relationship with the president like?

And surely he's well aware that she was one of the few Republicans who vote. voted to impeach him over the January 6th insurrection. Does that get in the way of their relationship? I mean, I think he's very well aware when somebody breaks with him. I would have to imagine he's aware of that. I was actually told by a Republican early in the campaign that, you know, when they were looking out at the map, that, you know, President Trump demands loyalty from people that he supports from Republicans.

But this person actually said that there are rules for Republicans and that there are rules for Susan Collins. and that Republicans were willing to kind of give her some leeway, which is actually an acknowledgement that they know the bind that she is in. They know that she's running for re-election in a blue state, in a state that the president lost, in a state that is very hostile right now to the president. It was a fascinating comment that there are maybe rules for Republicans

who are running across the country, but that maybe Susan Collins doesn't exactly have to adhere to those rules. Affordability is a huge issue in Maine, right? And Donald Trump hasn't exactly. exactly help? Yeah, and she has, that I think has really heightened the competitiveness of this race. The same race is always going to be competitive, but the fact that gas prices are where it's at, the fact that we're going into winter, you know, it's starting to get cold up here. You can't see it outside the car, but it's pretty gloomy. It's going to start getting really cold in Maine. Home heating oil prices are above $6 a gallon. It's a huge issue. I think about 80% of homes that are heated by home heating oil. are in the Northeast, a large portion of them probably in Maine and New Hampshire, two states with Senate races in November. It's been a huge issue up here. With temperatures dropping and the Iran

worsening oil prices through the roof, one state that's home to a critical Senate race is sounding the alarm. Pain at the pump. And pain at home too. It's getting to be hard for a lot of people. The Trump administration has actually tried to get rid of a low-income program to help with home heating oil that helps a lot of folks in Maine. You've seen Republicans from the gubernatorial candidate to congressional candidates break with the president on that because they know it's a huge issue. So when you talk about affordability, yes, we're talking about, you know, the price of beef, the price of groceries, the price of gas, but there's also these localized issues in a state like Maine in particular. And I think home heating oil actually could be a really fascinating,

underappreciated issue in this race, especially when you think about, you know, if you grew up or live in Arizona or Nevada or California, like you're not thinking about the oil that you need to heat your home. That could be a real issue here in a state like Maine. I guess another question I have for you in closing is just, you know, this was a political survivor, if nothing else. And this is no, as you say and as our prior guest said, Alex, like this is someone who repeatedly for decades. decades delivered for Mainers. And it seems like she was pretty conservative, not just in her voting record, but in her style and her demeanor in Washington and back home in Maine. For all of it to come crashing down because of essentially who the president was as she reached her, you know, whatever 30-something year in Congress, is that a bit of like a sad ending to this political story for her? Do you think she would maybe have regrets about how she approached Donald Trump? Yeah, I mean, it's certainly possible. And you've seen other senators who have bucked the president and drawn his ire have then retired and not run for re-election.

I'm thinking of, you know, Tom Tillis, for example, in North Carolina. I think there is this fascinating case study in how the party has changed, how the Republican Party has changed when you look at Susan Collins and you look at Donald Trump. someone like Susan Collins in an earlier iteration of the Republican Party would have had a lot of success, I think, would have probably stayed on side the Republican Party in a way that she just hasn't done under Trump. She represents a definitely different kind of era of the Republican Party. And also, I think there was a time when bringing home the bacon to a small state really worked politically. I'm thinking about Harry Reid, for example. He was a, he represented in Nevada. In 2010, he faced a really difficult re-election campaign, and his entire campaign was bringing home the bacon to Nevada, a similarly small state, and he won re-election in 2010. I think if Susan Collins wins re-election in 26, I think it'll prove that there's still a lot of goodwill for politicians who can deliver purely money, funding, projects for, for,

for states like Maine, states like Nevada, smaller states that maybe don't get the kind of national attention that others do. If she does lose, I think a lot of it will be put at the feet of President Trump. I'll be fascinated to talk to her if she does lose because I do think she will have a lot to say that she probably hasn't said yet. But I think that's an if. And I think we have two more weeks to find that out. Dan Merricka, Washington Post.

earlier it was Alex Siteswalled from the Mid Coast Villager in Maine. Shoutouts to the weeklies. Shoutouts to Avi Shai Arzzi and Dustin DeSoto for making the show. Shoutouts Denise Guerra for the idea. Shoutouts Amina al-Assadi for the edits. Gabriel Dunnettaw for the fact checks and Bridger Dunnigan and

David Tadishore for the mix. I'm Sean Ramos. Shown-Ram. Shout-outs to you for listening to this episode of today explained all 2000 or anything in between. Old music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe burst and your basement is flooding. That's why intact insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds. So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear

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