Before the 2020 race took shape, when folks asked us who might be a strong Dem challenger to Susan Collins, our standard response was to send them this 2014 speech by Troy Jackson -- now poised to be the 2026 nominee -- and recommend that they watch the first five minutes. #MEpolitics

A brief glimpse of what it'd be like if Maine had even one news outlet that didn't reflexively bow down to the state's senior senator. (Don't get used to it.) "[Susan] Collins’ sustained commitment to this sloppy, deadly incarnation of ICE strains credulity..." tinyurl.com/yd7aamsm #MEpoilitics

Photo from earlier today. Peas in a pod. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins keeps saying she voted to shovel $70B at ICE/CBP last month for body cameras but it's a lie: --There was already $$$ for cameras in Trump's 2025 Big Beautiful Bill tinyurl.com/4w28kks4 --Regardless, defending a $70B vote based on a $20M item (0.03% of the total) is absurd #MEpolitics

Can someone explain to us why Maine Democrats allowed Susan Collins lapdog Phil Hirschkorn -- her favorite errand-runner in Maine media -- to moderate a ME-SEN debate? Failure on the left to grapple with pro-Collins media bias and its implications is a huge part of how we got here. #MEpolitics

This energy. #MEpolitics

Quite the headline. #MEpolitics

Charles/Collins/LePage '26! Three peas in a pod! #MEpolitics

Susan Collins defended a Trump nominee's election denialism literally yesterday. She's clearly made peace with what her party has become. But that doesn't mean Maine has to. #MEpolitics

"[Susan] Collins does not care about your health!" #MEpolitics

@arimelber.bsky.social with an 11-minute primer on Susan Collins's broken promises -- worth sharing with Mainers in your life who are not big readers and prefer video. #MEpolitics

Portland: "[Susan] Collins has blood on her hands again". tinyurl.com/4pa6dcyy #MEpolitics

Self-proclaimed Susan Collins "fan" -- a former Rubio and Thune advisor -- says it's a "disgrace" how she and others feel the "need to contort and debase themselves to humor the ravings of an insecure, power abusing, president." #MEpolitics

When Susan Collins decided to shovel $70 billion at ICE/CBP even after the agency embraced lawlessness in its terror campaign in Minneapolis...did she think it was going to use that money to become *more* selective in its hiring? #MEpolitics

Creepy cult of personality mailer. Hard to believe this lands with many folks. #MEpolitics via @andrewperez.bsky.social

Susan Collins endorsing 2020 election denialism. Didn't have that on our bingo card. #MEpolitics

Scoop from @pressherald.com: Ex-wife of ICE officer who killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero says that "she had previously reported concerns to his superiors in the military about his mental health." #MEpolitics

Even when Susan Collins says "pretty pretty please" to her king Donald so she won't look completely powerless -- three months before voting starts! -- she still gets nothing. Useless. #MEpolitics

Oh wow Susan Collins voted against advancing a Trump nominee (pretty rare, admittedly) but they made it through anyway. Imagine that. #MEpolitics

Even Steve Collins -- a columnist with a history of bowing down to Queen Susan -- can't ignore something this obvious. #MEpolitics

Not being clear-eyed re: the information environment and the challenges it presents has been one of the Democratic party's key failures in recent years. Lousy to see @mainedems.bsky.social guilty of the same here -- giving a hostile outlet a privileged role in a Dem primary. Not great! #MEpolitics

Democrats should NOT let Bangor Daily News -- an outlet that's intervened for Susan Collins in every race she's run -- host their debate. Might as well give it to Fox News. Talk about a refusal to learn lessons! #MEpolitics @shennabellows.bsky.social @troyjackson207.bsky.social @danformaine.com

Alternate headline: Susan Collins put herself in a political bind by backing billions more for ICE after Maine surge in January #MEpolitics

. MAINE DEMS DELEGATE NOMINATING MEETINGS COUNTY MEETINGS INFO All 16 counties with date, time, location, etc. ALT Text included. Also found at 🔗: mainedems.org/senate-race/... #MEpolitics #MEsen #MaineDems

"[Susan] Collins voted to confirm Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noam [sic]. She voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin for the same position. She voted for ICE's budget in January, April, and June. Not once has she made her final vote contingent on getting anything in return." #MEpolitics

Also known as "Jared Golden territory." #MEpolitics

Chellie Pingree voted 'yes' to ending military aid. Jared Golden voted 'no'. #MEpolitics

"Sen. Murray...said Republicans gave ICE tens of billions of dollars last summer when they passed Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. That money has been sitting there...Specifically...$29.85 billion to ICE for a wide range of things, including body cameras." tinyurl.com/4njkc89e #MEpolitics

A significant chunk of Mainers are absolutely livid with Susan Collins and a significant chunk of those folks are livid with Maine media for refusing to tell the truth about her. #MEpolitics

Pathetic and feeble but also a lie by any reasonable standard. Susan Collins voted to give ICE and CBP $70,000,000,000 in June. The money set aside for body cameras was just 0.03% of that amount. She has no answer for why she supported 99.97% of the money! #MEpolitics via @premthakker.bsky.social

Totally backwards. Maine needs an INDEPENDENT investigation. It doesn't need Trump's DHS covering for its own officers or his radicalized DOJ controlling the information flow. All incredibly obvious! Anyone still operating as if Trump's team can be trusted is lying or in willful denial. #MEpolitics

Hard for Dunlap to get much attention with all the tumult in ME-SEN (maybe easier in a couple weeks?) but his race is extremely winnable -- LePage is very beatable -- if Matt's able to pull together the kind of grassroots army req'd to get the message out and make the case. #MEpolitics

Trump's unqualified nominee (zero relevant experience) to be Director of National Intelligence overseeing the CIA, NSA etc. Susan Collins also sits on this committee. #MEpolitics

"Two other people close to Schumer...said he would stay far away from the race to replace Graham Platner and not pick a favorite — at least not publicly — in part out of concern that if he picks a candidate it could backfire." Good. At least one person learned their lesson. #MEpolitics

You voted for the war. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins and her GOP pals have funneled over $150 *billion* to ICE and affiliated agencies in 2025 and 2026 alone. Of that amount Collins is bragging she "secured" $20 *million* for body cameras ICE isn't even using. That's 0.01% of the total. Clealrly thinks Mainers are stupid. #MEpolitics

Obvious questions to ask Susan Collins: Given the rogue agency's lawless track record under Trump in 2025 -- including killings in Minnesota and elsewhere -- why was it appropriate to send ICE 7x as much money in 2026 as it received it 2024? Why didn't you at least insist on reforms? #MEpolitics

From 'idolizing' Susan Collins to shouting at her at a parade. It's a common trajectory but it needs to become more common -- which will require Mainers going outside of their comfort zones and talking to neighbors and relatives and acquaintances about what's at stake in November. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins walks out of a burning house holding an empty bottle of lighter fluid, turns to the assembled crowd: 'Stop politicizing the arson!' #MEpolitics

PPH letter to the editor titled: Susan Collins voted to give ICE more power. Don’t forget it. #MEpolitics

PPH has done a good job covering yesterday's tragic killing. Careful reporting. No punches pulled. But the outlet's ability to do such sharp work only makes it clearer that its kiss-the-ring approach to Susan Collins isn't inevitable. It's a choice. Deference at the expense of truth. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins defended voting to give ICE $40B last month on the grounds that the funding included money for body cameras. (The amount designated for body cameras was 0.05% of the total appropriation.) Now she says it's Democrats fault that the rogue agency isn't actually using them. #MEPolitics

Susan Collins shouldn't have responded to ICE's embrace of lawlessness by helping increase its budget from $10B as recently as 2024 to over $80B in 2025 -- and then voting to send it $40B more in June. But she could've at least insisted on reforms in exchange for that vote. She did not. #MEpolitics

Per @headquartersnews.bsky.social here's footage of Susan Collins voting to send $70,000,000,000 to ICE and related agencies last month. (For context: $70B could fund universal pre-K nationally for 2 years; the entire budget of Maine for about 6 years; or about 35,000 new firehouses.) #MEpolitics

Susan Collins votes to confirm another one of Trump's personal attorneys to high office -- in this case a lifetime judicial appointment. He refused to say who won the 2020 election and refuses to say what happened on January 6. Reason enough for Collins to be defeated all by itself. #MEpolitics

Here we have one of Maine's leading "objective" journalists (goes on nat'l TV regularly as a Maine expert) saying Jared Golden is 'one of the only Dems who actually has credibility' about ICE. This kind of flagrant bias is how we got here. (Better out in the open than concealed though.) #MEpolitics

This truly bonkers explanation of a govt killing hasn't received enough attention. Erases any doubt about the necessity of Maine pursuing its own INDEPENDENT investigation. Mills, Frey and York County DA Kathryn Slattery need to be pressed on this. As should folks running for office. #MEpolitics

Seems unlikely that agency leadership would float such flimsy, shifting explanations for a killing if they harbored any fear whatsoever of accountability. Of course that's exactly how we got here -- courtesy of Susan Collins and her GOP pals. #MEpolitics