Susan Collins faces toughest reelection fight as Maine Senate race sharpens

Susan Collins has spent nearly three decades building one of the strongest resumes in the Senate, but that record now collides with the harshest political test of her career. The Maine Republican is seeking a sixth term in 2026 while carrying the burden of a party label that has become a liability in her state, even as her moderation and long tenure still make her difficult to dislodge.

Collins, 73, first took office on January 3, 1997, and her current term runs until January 3, 2027. She is Maine’s longest-serving member of Congress and the longest-serving Republican woman in Senate history, a status that underscores both her durability and the changing politics around her. She now ranks seventh in Senate seniority, giving her a level of institutional clout few senators can match.

That clout expanded in January 2025, when Collins became chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She became the first Mainer in 92 years to lead the committee and the first Republican woman ever to do so. The post gives her direct influence over federal spending priorities, and Collins has highlighted that leverage in Maine by pointing to hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks and Congressionally Directed Spending.

She has said she secured $425 million for 156 projects in Maine through fiscal 2026 appropriations bills signed into law. That spending power gives Collins a tangible case to make at home, especially in a state where lawmakers from both parties often value delivered federal dollars as much as party loyalty. It also helps explain why, despite her vulnerability, Collins remains one of the hardest senators to defeat.

The 2026 race has sharpened into a marquee battleground with implications far beyond Maine. The Associated Press has described the seat as a key fight for Senate control, and national Democrats recruited Gov. Janet Mills to take on Collins. Mills was widely seen as the party’s top choice, and AP reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged her to run.

Mills is not the only Democrat Collins faces. Recent reporting says Collins will meet Graham Platner in the general election after Maine’s June 9 primary set the fall campaign. However the field settles, the basic tension remains the same: Collins is a durable incumbent with deep roots, vast seniority and the power of incumbency, but in a state that has repeatedly tested Republican fortunes, her party label keeps the race perilously close.