WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday declined to say whether he would visit Maine ahead of the midterm election, as Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins hopes to stave off Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in one of the tighter Senate races of the cycle.
Asked if he planned to campaign in the state and whether it would help Collins, Trump replied, “We’re probably going to add a couple. It’s a lot of work, I will tell you, it’s a lot of travel.” The president then said he “loved the people,” before discussing a large crowd in Iowa.
Trump has crisscrossed the country in recent days to campaign for Republicans as the party tries to defy polls and maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
The president’s vague answer on Maine marks a subtle change from earlier this month, when he told reporters, “I don’t know about Maine. I think we’re going to Maine.”
It’s unlikely that Senator Collins’ hopes will be dashed should Trump skip out on her state.
“I’ve heard nothing from his office, and I’m not exactly his favorite senator,” Collins said when the topic came up during a debate earlier this month.
Seeking to defend her seat in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, Collins has publicly broken with the White House on policy and distanced herself from Trump on several occasions.
This week, while campaigning alongside former Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat turned independent, Collins criticized the ongoing trade war launched by the president against imports from Canada.
“I have led the opposition to the imposition of Canadian tariffs. Maine and Canada’s economies are deeply intertwined,” she told reporters, also chiding Trump envoy Steve Witkoff’s characterization of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian.”
“I would describe Putin as a warmonger, a thug” she said. “He’s certainly not a humanitarian.”
Even when members of the Trump administration have come to Maine this midterm season, Collins has been elsewhere.
In August, the senator did not attend a rally held by Vice President JD Vance in Brewer, citing a scheduling conflict.
In his appearance, though, Vance spoke of Collins in a way that appeared to bolster the bipartisan brand she is trying to cultivate with voters.
“Whenever I’m in Maine, I got to give Susan a little bit of crap,” Vance said. “As you know, Susan is the most independent member of the United States Senate. And as the president of the United States Senate, she sometimes makes my job just a little bit harder.”
Collins has proven a difficult opponent for Democrats desperate to flip her Senate seat blue.
In 2020, the Republican dispatched former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, winning by roughly 9 percentage points, while Trump lost Maine by a similar margin.
Six years later, Jackson is trying to tie Collins to the president at every turn.
“The reality is that 100% of the time, when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins is going to be there,” the former Maine Senate president said during a recent debate.
Jackson is also pushing an unabashedly progressive platform.
He has recently campaigned with stars of the Democratic Party’s left wing, appearing alongside Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who spoke to supporters on Thursday.