SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
susan collins
'We’re From the Bottom, and We’re Rising,' Says Troy Jackson in Final Push to Topple Susan Collins
"Susan Collins says she's 'Our Senator,'" said the former Maine state Senate president. "But there’s no one in my life who feels that way."
Nov 03, 2026
"Let's win this thing," said US Senate candidate Troy Jackson just before voters in Maine and across the country went to the polls on Tuesday, with Democrats vying to take control of Congress to rein in President Donald Trump.
The progressive former Maine state Senate president, who launched his campaign in July after former nominee Graham Platner dropped out of the race to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, posted a video showing the packed campaign events where he has met voters from across the state and spoken out against Collins' support for Trump's mass deportation agenda, illegal war on Iran, and an economy that is "about taking pieces of our lives away from us."
"I am seeing something now that I've been waiting so damn long for," said Jackson at one event featured in the ad. "I've seen people who haven't been involved in politics before showing up now. We are the ones that built this country. We are the ones that's always put our blood, sweat, and tears on the line, and all those billionaires, we made them that money. Susan Collins needs to come out and hear that."
"Maine deserves a senator who works for Maine, not just those at the top," added Jackson in the video. "Because we're not from the left, we're not from the right, we're from the bottom, and we're rising!"
Tomorrow, Maine decides.I don't owe Washington, Donald Trump, or the billionaires a single thing. I owe the people of Maine everything.We’re not from the left. We’re not from the right. We’re from the bottom, and tomorrow, we’re rising.Polls are open tomorrow. Let's win this thing.
— Troy Jackson (@TroyJackson207) November 3, 2026
Countering Collins' perennial claims that she is a "moderate," independent-minded senator, Jackson has sought to tie New England's only remaining Republican member of the US Senate to Trump, whose approval rating is now in the low 30s as his war on Iran and tariff policies send gas and grocery prices soaring and as his mass deportation agenda continues to tear families and communities apart.
Last month he said Collins "paid for the bullets at Donald Trump’s command" when Colombian immigrant and Biddeford, Maine resident Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot to death by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in July. He also took her to task during a debate over her vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, which helped secure the largest Medicaid cuts in history, and over her attempt to mask the damage she did to Maine's healthcare system by touting a $50 billion rural hospital fund.
“Sen. Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out,” said Jackson at the debate.
The fifth-generation logger, who has been endorsed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), supports Medicare for All, a billionaire's tax, dismantling and abolishing ICE, overturning Citizens United to rein in unlimited election spending by corporations and special interest groups, passing a federal right to abortion, and ending US funding for Israel's military.
In recent weeks he has condemned Collins for voting to confirm two anti-abortion federal judges—something she has done dozens of times while claiming to support abortion rights—saying, "Enough is enough."
Jackson also accused her of "corruption of the highest order" after ProPublica reported on a "pay-to-play scheme" in which Collins sent millions of taxpayer dollars to a defense contractor whose CEO donated to her campaign.
"Susan Collins says she's 'Our Senator,'" said Jackson on Tuesday in reference to her campaign signs. "But there’s no one in my life who feels that way."
There's always money for bombs. There's always money for income tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. But there's never any money for everyday people.Susan Collins says she's "Our Senator" — but there’s no one in my life who feels that way. It’s our time, Maine. Get to the polls to vote her out today.
— Troy Jackson (@TroyJackson207) November 3, 2026
The Maine race could be decisive in determining whether Republicans continue to control the Senate or Democrats have an opportunity to launch investigations into widespread allegations of Trump's corruption and connections to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, block his nominees, and force the White House to negotiate over legislation.
A poll released by The New York Times/Siena College this week found Jackson six points ahead of Collins.
In his final get-out-the-vote push, Jackson reminded Mainers that polls are open until 8:00 pm and that they can register at their election sites on Election Day.
"There's always money for bombs. There's always money for income tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. But there's never any money for everyday people," said Jackson, who also posted a photo of himself greeting Mainers at the polls. "It’s our time, Maine. Get to the polls to vote her out today."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Bald-Faced Lies': GOP Called Out for Running on Saving the Rural Health System They're Destroying
"Republicans across the country are desperately trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes."
Oct 21, 2026
With the US midterm elections less than two weeks away, Republicans across the country are posturing as defenders of the country's ailing rural healthcare system even as hospitals and providers nationwide buckle under the financial strain imposed by President Donald Trump and the GOP's unprecedented cuts to Medicaid.
The advocacy group Protect Our Care said Wednesday that Republicans in key congressional races "are touting bald-faced lies" by highlighting their support for a $50 billion rural health fund that pales in comparison to the roughly $900 billion in Medicaid cuts that Trump signed into law last summer. The health policy organization KFF estimates that the Republican law will cut $137 billion in Medicaid spending for rural areas over the next decade.
Protect Our Care calls out multiple Republicans by name for misleadingly promoting their support for rural health funds, including Sens. Roger Marshall of Kansas, Jon Husted of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, Jeff Crank of Colorado, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Jason Smith of Missouri, and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.
"Republicans across the country are desperately trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes, touting their so-called 'rural health investments' as if they make up for the $1 trillion they ripped away from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. It doesn’t come close," said Protect Our Care. "Rural Americans are rapidly losing the care they need, and over 1,250 hospitals, clinics, and essential service providers are closing, cutting services, or are at risk of doing so."
"These investments," the group said of the $50 billion rural health fund, "will do nothing to stop the gushing wound Republicans hacked in the American healthcare system."
As Common Dreams reported over the summer, Collins—who is running for a sixth term against former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson—has played up her role in securing the Rural Health Transformation Program as part of the sprawling One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Collins voted against final passage of the bill, citing its cuts to Medicaid, but she provided her party with critical support to advance the measure through the Senate.
"Senator Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out," Jackson said during a debate earlier this month.
Maine has so far received $190 million from the rural health fund—a fraction of the roughly $3 billion in Medicaid cuts facing the state over the next decade.
Several of Maine’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure thanks to Trump's disastrous One Big Beautiful Bill.Our healthcare system cannot survive another Susan Collins term.https://t.co/cE1Z3ujjfp
— Troy Jackson (@TroyJackson207) August 25, 2026
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who is running for reelection against Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), similarly homed in on his GOP opponent's support for Medicaid cuts that are wreaking havoc across the country and forcing healthcare facilities to cut back on services—or close entirely.
"Mike Collins and Donald Trump passed the biggest Medicaid cut in history," said Ossoff during an October 8 debate. "A hospital in Mike Collins' own district had to shut down its labor-and-delivery unit, citing those Medicaid cuts. How can a sitting congressman vote to shut down a labor-and-delivery unit in his own district?"
While Republicans have characterized the $50 billion in funding as a key lifeline for rural hospitals, KFF noted in a recent analysis that the money "could mitigate but will not fully offset estimated cuts to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas." The policy group observed that, "unlike most of the federal Medicaid spending cuts, the fund is also time limited." States must spend the funds they receive by the end of fiscal year 2032.
"While the fund was established in part to address concerns about the impact of the reconciliation law on rural hospitals, the funding is being used for a much broader set of purposes, and there are restrictions on how hospitals can benefit," the group said, pointing out that the money cannot be put toward "propping up struggling hospitals with temporary relief."
In a fact sheet released on Wednesday, Protect Our Care pointed to comments made earlier this year by Jed Hansen, the executive director of the Nebraska Rural Health Association, who said in March that the GOP's rural health funding wouldn't go to "rural hospitals, rural clinics, and rural providers in a meaningful way.”
“Rural Health Transformation will not save a single hospital in our state,” said Hansen. “I don’t think it will save a hospital nationally.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Just a Flat-Out Lie': Collins Says She Couldn't Have Known Kavanaugh Would Vote to Overturn Roe v. Wade
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," said a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes Maine.
Oct 20, 2026
As she faces a tough reelection fight in Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins is twisting the facts about her role in laying the groundwork for the US Supreme Court's overturning of abortion rights.
Throughout the campaign, Collins has been dogged by questions about her fateful decision in 2018 to cast a key vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the court. In 2022, he joined the court's conservative majority to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent, allowing states to impose severe new bans and restrictions on abortion.
In June, Collins—who has described herself as pro-choice—said she did "not regret" her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, falsely claiming that Roe was overturned by a 6-3 margin and was therefore doomed regardless of her vote. In fact, the precedent was overturned by a 5-4 margin, meaning Kavanaugh's vote proved decisive.
Now in a dead heat race with Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, who has repeatedly hammered her on abortion rights, Collins has continued to defend her confirmation vote. She's also kept fudging the truth.
“I’m very disappointed in his vote to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Collins said of Kavanaugh during an interview published Monday by Maine ABC affiliate WMTW. “There was no way for me to anticipate that.”
Collins had, in fact, been warned that Kavanaugh might overturn Roe v. Wade. In her October 5, 2018, speech supporting his confirmation, she explicitly acknowledged “the concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade” and noted that President Donald Trump had pledged to nominate judges who would do so.
Reproductive freedom advocates cautioned her that Kavanaugh was not being truthful when he said he considered Roe to be settled precedent, citing his history of ruling against abortion access and praising former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s dissent in Roe.
But Collins dismissed these advocates' warnings, arguing that Republican-appointed Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy had voted to reaffirm Roe despite opposition to some of their nominations from abortion rights groups. “Suffice it to say, prominent advocacy organizations have been wrong,” Collins said.
In this case, they were not. Lisa Margulies, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in Maine, said it was dishonest of Collins to plead innocence.
"It’s just a flat-out lie that Susan Collins had ‘no way’ of knowing Brett Kavanaugh would overturn our federal right to abortion," she said. "Mainers drove down to DC and begged her not to confirm him. They knew he was a direct threat to abortion, and so did Susan Collins."
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," Margulies said. "Enough is enough. Mainers deserve better than a senator who will throw their rights under the bus and then refuse to acknowledge the harm done."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Senator Collins Paid for the Bullets,' Troy Jackson Says of ICE Killing in Maine
"I'm not going to stand up for ICE, and I don't think Senator Collins should either," said Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson.
Oct 14, 2026
Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson on Tuesday castigated his Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, for voting to funnel tens of millions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement just over a month before one of the agency's officers killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
"Senator Collins paid for the bullets at [President] Donald Trump's command. Now she wants credit for not pulling the trigger," Jackson said in his closing remarks at the third debate of the critical US Senate contest. The debate was held three months to the day after ICE agent David Brouillette shot and killed Durán Guerrero—a father and Colombian national who had been authorized to work in the US—during a traffic stop.
Jackson pointed to Collins' June vote in favor of a $70 billion funding package that included nearly $40 billion for ICE, whose agents Trump has unleashed on American cities with deadly consequences. According to a CBS News review, federal immigration agents have killed at least nine people and injured over a dozen more in roughly 30 shootings so far during Trump's second White House term.
Days after the shooting in Biddeford, Collins—who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee—declined to say she regretted supporting the additional ICE funding, which had few meaningful guardrails.
During Tuesday's debate, Collins admitted that "far too many ICE officers were hired and deployed without adequate vetting and training" and touted funding she secured for body cameras and "deescalation training" for immigration agents. (Collins voted against a Democratic amendment to the $70 billion funding package that would have required federal immigration agents to wear body cameras and make footage "accessible to Congress.")
Jackson said marginal reforms aren't enough to rein in "a rogue agency that's doing Trump's bidding."
"I do believe it's important to get rid of it and take that money and prioritize it into existing law enforcement," said Jackson. "So, no, I'm not going to stand up for ICE, and I don't think Senator Collins should either."
Keep ReadingShow Less
In Senate Debate, Troy Jackson Calls Susan Collins an 'Arsonist' Who Brings a 'Cup of Water' to the Fire
"Mainers can't afford to pay their bills with a press release or a strongly worded letter," said Jackson.
Oct 07, 2026
Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson took his Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, to task during a Tuesday debate for her role in Maine's worsening healthcare crisis, accusing her of paving the way for the disaster while attempting to take credit for an inadequate relief fund.
"Senator Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out," Jackson said after Collins touted her role in securing a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals. The fund was part of a Republican budget package that includes the largest Medicaid cuts in the program's history—roughly $900 billion over the next decade.
Collins, who is running for a sixth term, voted against final passage of the Republican budget legislation, but she played a key role in advancing the bill through the Senate.
"She could have stopped it," Jackson, the former president of Maine's Senate, said of the budget law, which is fueling hospital staffing cutbacks and closures across the US, including in Maine. "What she brought back is a pittance to what we're losing in this state. I mean, we're watching our healthcare system crash right in front of us."
Watch:
Tuesday's debate came weeks ahead of the November general election, which polling indicates is a tight race. A survey conducted at the end of September by the Maine People’s Resource Center found Jackson leading Collins 49.3% to 46.5%—an advantage that was within the poll's margin of error.
During the debate, Jackson hammered Collins over her pro-Trump voting record and repeatedly accused her of playing up minuscule or largely symbolic opposition to the president's unpopular actions, including his tariffs on Canada and his illegal war on Iran.
After Collins noted that she "got concrete, pulp, and road salt removed from the tariff list," Jackson responded: "We can't eat road salt."
"Mainers can't afford to pay their bills with a press release or a strongly worded letter," said Jackson.
Jackson also highlighted recent ProPublica reporting that placed Collins at the center of a “sprawling pay-to-play operation” involving a Hawaii-based defense contractor accused of funneling donations to lawmakers in exchange for federal contracts.
"As late as 2024, the FBI was circling around Senator Collins," Jackson noted, citing the federal investigation that ProPublica revealed. "Then, whenever President Trump came back, his administration dismantled the investigation. Now, she votes with Donald Trump 96% of the time."
"I don't owe Trump. I don't owe the billionaires nothing. In fact, I've spent my life fighting back against billionaires," Jackson added. "But I do owe the people of Maine everything. I refuse corporate PAC money, I want to ban congressional stock trading. I fight for working Mainers every day. I'm not taking money from corporations like Susan Collins does."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump 'Gleefully Eviscerating' Efforts to Help Families With 'Illegal' Pocket Rescission
"Donald Trump knows he can’t get these cuts through Congress, so he is illegally making them through the back door," said the House Budget Committee's top Democrat.
Sep 26, 2026
Elected Democrats—and even the Senate's top Republican appropriator—blasted President Donald Trump late Friday for rescinding nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved spending that the White House deemed "wasteful and harmful" through a legally contested process.
In a statement announcing what was targeted, the administration celebrated funding cuts for what it called "pro-illegal immigration programs," a "nefarious" Department of Justice subagency, a program that "propagates America Last climate alarmism," an office that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—or "discrimination, and radical woke ideologies"—and more.
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) responded in a statement that "Donald Trump knows he can't get these cuts through Congress, so he is illegally making them through the back door."
"Trump's actions are a blatant attack on Congress' constitutional power of the purse," he added. "It is exactly why we need to pass my Congressional Power of the Purse Act and stop any president from illegally overriding Congress."
The Associated Press reported that "under federal law, Congress has 45 days to review the president's proposed spending cuts before they take effect. But Trump made that all but impossible by announcing them with just five days left in the federal fiscal year and the House out of session through the November election."
Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) stressed on social media that "a pocket rescission is an illegal line-item veto. It is the president saying that he and he alone will convert a bipartisan spending bill (that has been signed into law) into a partisan spending bill. He is canceling the lines of spending he doesn't like."
"This violates the core separation of powers embedded in our Constitution in which it is the Congress, not the president, who decides what programs are designed and at what level they are funded," he continued. "Republican colleagues said they would never let this happen. Well, here it is. They should ask themselves: 'How would I like to have a Democratic president canceling out the Republican flavored programs he or she doesn't like in a bipartisan spending bill that has been signed into law?' If they have any integrity or any spine, they will join us in ending this practice."
Noting that the cuts will impact everything from critical health research, to combating the international illicit narcotics trade, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) declared: "This is theft from the American people, plain and simple. These are funds Congress has delivered on a bipartisan basis and should be helping people—not cut off by a president more focused on building a ballroom than investing in families."
She specifically called out Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought—a co-author of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a right-wing overhaul of the federal government, who was recently condemned as an "unelected shadow president" by the House Democrat who introduced impeachment articles against him. According to Murray, "Every Republican who voted for these bills should be furious because Vought is saying their votes don't count."
Murray also pointed out that during negotiations for the recently enacted stopgap spending legislation, "Democrats fought to include language to prevent the Trump administration from once again usurping Congress' power—but for the second time in a year, Republicans refused to take common sense action and prevent this from happening."
"While Trump spends tax dollars on ads promoting himself, Congress needs to reassert its powers to help people, and it's past time Republicans join us in that fight," she argued. "Russ Vought's message to Congress is that your votes don't count, and your laws are optional. It is now time for my Republican colleagues who said they would never let this happen to stand up and join us to stop this, and remind this administration this is not how this works."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) emphasized the impact of the administration's move, saying that "Trump is gleefully eviscerating programs and protections that help hardworking American families live a safe and healthy life, all while he continues to punish them with skyrocketing gas and grocery prices."
"With this rescissions package, the Trump administration is illegally stripping nearly $1 billion in critical funding that supports kids, K-12 students, small businesses, and health and clean air research," he highlighted. "Americans are crying out for relief."
"Instead of ending his Iran War and tariff chaos that are driving up costs, Trump is rolling out the red carpet for our adversaries while stealing funds meant to help American families," he added. "Senate Democrats will challenge Trump's illegal cuts at every turn and continue the fight to help American families, lower healthcare costs and secure our communities."
The administration's rescission announcement came less than six weeks away from the midterm elections. Democrats aim to win majorities, while Trump's Republican Party is fighting to keep control of both chambers of Congress. One of the nationally watched races is that of Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine).
As some congressional Republicans cheered the Friday action, Collins put out a statement denouncing it. She said that "without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the administration," which she called OBM's most recent attempt "to undermine Congress' constitutional power of the purse."
"This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law," Collins continued. "Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress' appropriations powers. OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding."
"The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act," she added. "Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law. I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions."
While some Democrats had called for their Republican colleagues to make such promises, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) fired back at Collins on social media, writing that "Senate Republicans had chance after chance to stop Trump's illegal seizure of taxpayer money. Time after time, they pledged allegiance to Trump instead of to citizens. And he'll keep rolling them if the Senate doesn't change hands."
So did Troy Jackson, the former Democratic Maine Senate president running to unseat Collins. He said that "Susan Collins voted for Trump's pick to lead the OMB. Now she’s surprised he's doing exactly what he promised to do? She's the appropriations chair who voted with Trump 96% of the time. Expressing concern isn't enough. Mainers see through the bullshit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Corruption of the Highest Order,' Says Troy Jackson After Explosive Susan Collins Report
"We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up."
Sep 22, 2026
Maine Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson pounced on Tuesday after ProPublica published a damning story putting incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins at the center of what the publication described as a "sprawling pay-to-play operation."
In a statement released shortly after the ProPublica story dropped, Jackson accused Collins of engaging in "corruption of the highest order."
"Susan Collins delivered millions in taxpayer dollars for a corrupt donor bankrolling her campaign," said Jackson, "and then [President] Donald Trump helped her cover it up."
The ProPublica report unearthed internal records revealing an FBI investigation into defense contractor Navatek, now known as Martin Defense Group, for making campaign contributions to politicians in exchange for federal contracts.
According to ProPublica, former Navatek CEO Martin Kao told a group of FBI agents and federal prosecutors in 2022 about a 2019 meeting he'd had with the head of a pro-Collins super political action committee where he committed to cut a big check to the Maine Republican's campaign if she steered federal cash to his company.
After the meeting, ProPublica wrote, Kao "sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company" and then told Navatek executives in an internal email two months later that "Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts."
The alleged corruption outlined in the report went far beyond Collins, as Kao also provided FBI agents with a 50-page document that named "dozens of lobbyists, congressional staffers, and members of Congress who he said helped him trade cash for contracts."
However, the probe into Kao's alleged efforts to bribe politicians was shut down shortly after Trump returned to the White House in 2025, which Jackson said may explain why Collins "voted with him 96% of the time and has rubber-stamped his agenda to hurt Maine."
"Susan Collins doesn’t care," Jackson added, "that we’re losing our healthcare that ICE is killing people on the streets, and that we’ve been dragged into a pointless war—as long as her donors get their contracts and her coffers get filled. We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up."
Annie Clark, Collins' deputy chief of staff, disputed the allegations made in the ProPublica story, and accused the publication of wrongly lending credibility to Kao, whom she said "began making outlandish charges about the Collins office, deflecting blame from himself" for his own criminal behavior.
"The seven-year-old allegations made against Sen. Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false," said Clark. "There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Incredible Story of Corruption': Bombshell Report Puts Susan Collins at Center of Massive Bribery Scheme
ProPublica reported that the US senator from Maine, now running for a sixth term, was the "most important patron" of a defense company accused of bribing members of Congress for federal contracts.
Sep 22, 2026
Explosive reporting published Tuesday by the investigative outlet ProPublica details how US Sen. Susan Collins was at the center of a "sprawling pay-to-play operation" under which the chief executive of a Hawaii-based defense contractor allegedly funneled campaign cash to lawmakers in exchange for lucrative federal contracts.
ProPublica's story—based on internal emails, thousands of pages of legal records, interviews, and other evidence—reveals for the first time the existence of an FBI investigation into possible bribery of members of Congress, including Collins, by the defense contractor Navatek, a probe that was shuttered after President Donald Trump took office for his second term.
In late 2019, according to ProPublica, the head of a pro-Collins super PAC, Scott Reed, met with then-Navatek CEO Martin Kao and other executives at a Washington, DC bakery and asked them for a $500,000 donation to the longtime Maine senator's 2020 reelection bid.
"If they cut a big check, the CEO told Reed, Navatek wanted Collins to guarantee tens of millions of dollars in additional federal funding," ProPublica reported. "After the Corner Bakery meeting, [Kao] sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company. Two months later, he told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts, according to an internal company email."
In 2022, Kao pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions. The $150,000 check to the pro-Collins group, the 1820 PAC, was funneled through an entity titled "the Society of Young Women Scientist [sic] and Engineers." The money flowed from Navatek's account, violating the ban on federal government contractors making campaign donations.
This is an incredible story of corruption.
I kinda love that the fake shell company the weapons maker used to bribe Susan Collins was called “Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC.” https://t.co/I06XpPHIO9
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) September 22, 2026
ProPubulica revealed that Kao, facing years in federal prison, handed FBI agents "a 50-page document naming dozens of lobbyists, congressional staffers, and members of Congress who he said helped him trade cash for contracts." Kao also told federal agents that Navatek’s federally funded research "was of no real value," according to ProPublica.
"Of all the politicians Navatek courted under Kao’s leadership, Collins was its most important patron," the investigative outlet reported. "The senator’s office steered government contracts worth millions toward the company while her campaign was pumping Kao and his network for donations, according to emails seen by ProPublica. Sometimes they cut checks within 24 hours of the annual defense spending bill, which funds military contracts, clearing a key Senate hurdle."
Collins, who is currently running for a sixth Senate term, denied allegations of bribery through a spokesperson, who dismissed Kao's claims as "outlandish" and said the Collins campaign "disgorged the illegal contributions that Martin Kao had made without our knowledge."
But ProPublica's reporting details, with documentary evidence, Collins' yearslong relationship with Kao, who first met the Maine senator face-to-face in 2018.
"In that first meeting with Collins and her staff, Kao pitched an $8 million boat hull research project for Navatek and [the University of Maine]. Collins seemed supportive," the outlet noted. Kao funneled donations to Collins' campaign, and the senator later included funding for Navatek's project in the annual US military budget.
"Emails showed her staff made it clear to the Navy that it should send the money to Navatek," ProPublica reported.
The outlet also revealed the details of a 2019 meeting between Kao, Collins, and Amy Abbott, who was then serving as the campaign finance director for the senator's 2020 reelection campaign. The meeting took place before an event at Navatek's Maine headquarters, where Collins posed for pictures with Kao.
"Before the event, Kao said, Collins, Abbott, and another staffer met with him in private," ProPublica reported. "One of the staffers told Kao the campaign expected more donations. It was in this meeting that Collins said, 'You’ve seen me deliver,' he told the FBI."
Martin Kao, second from left, was pictured with Sen. Susan Collins during an event in August 2019. (Photo: Sen. Susan Collins/Facebook)
Avi Asher-Schapiro, one of four ProPublica reporters who bylined the bombshell story, lamented that "we may never know the full story" of the large-scale bribery scheme alleged by Kao because the Trump administration "took a wrecking ball to the FBI teams and DOJ lawyers specializing in these cases—everyone who worked it is gone."
"And as far as we know," Asher-Schapiro added, "the FBI abandoned a witness who might have been able to expose a generational corruption scandal."
The report was published just weeks before the November midterms, when Collins will attempt to retain her seat against former Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson, who has said that billionaires and corporate-funded super PACs "have her in their pockets."
Keep ReadingShow Less
‘Time We Send Her Packing,’ Troy Jackson Says of Collins Voting to Confirm 2 Anti-Abortion Judges in a Week
"Does she think that people in Maine are stupid?" said Jackson of the Republican senator, who has long claimed to be a supporter of reproductive rights.
Sep 18, 2026
"Enough is enough," Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson declared on Thursday after Republican Sen. Susan Collins voted once again for an anti-abortion judge to join a federal court for a lifetime appointment—a frequent action taken by the five-term Maine lawmaker despite her persistent claims that she supports reproductive rights.
Collins' vote on Thursday was for Kasdin Miller Mitchell, a litigator and former solicitor general of Alabama who also served as a clerk for far-right US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was confirmed in a 49-45 vote to serve on the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
But Mitchell wasn't the only anti-choice judge Collins voted to confirm this week, Jackson noted with scorn.
On Tuesday, the former logger and Maine state Senate president recorded a video responding to her tie-breaking vote in support of Judge Matthew Byrne to join the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Byrne sits on the board of an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center and said in 2020 that he opposed allowing pregnant patients to access abortion in nearly all cases, without any exceptions for rape or incest. He said he supported exceptions—which, in reality, often do little to protect access to care—for cases in which a pregnant patient's life is at risk, but said that the term “life of the mother” should be “strictly defined so as to avoid creating loopholes.”
Jackson asked in his video on Tuesday, "Does she think that people in Maine are stupid?"
"It's time that Mainers had somebody that's going to fight for their reproductive rights every damn time," he added.
On Thursday, Jackson expressed disbelief that for the second time in four days, Collins had voted in favor of an anti-choice judge.
Mitchell helped defend the state of Alabama as it tried to terminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, arguing in a brief that the state had "inherent sovereign authority to determine which providers qualified" for Medicaid, "based on their own unchecked assessment of an organization’s ethics," according to Reproductive Freedom for All.
Mitchell also signed letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of other anti-abortion judges and served as the counsel of record for the Independent Women’s Law Center, an anti-choice group that has opposed the Affordable Care Act's contraception coverage, equal pay and family leave legislation, and the Violence Against Women Act.
Maine Democratic Party spokesperson Misha Linnehan said Collins' votes this week "show she’s not going to stand up for Maine women any time soon.”
“Susan Collins confirmed justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and said herself she still doesn’t regret it," said Linnehan. "Now, she’s falling in line with Trump once again to put fanatical anti-abortion judicial nominees on the bench for life."
The Maine Democratic Party highlighted more than a dozen federal judges Collins has backed in recent months, including Judge Whitney Hermandorfer of the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, who defended Tennessee’s total abortion ban; Judge Joshua Dunlap of the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, which includes Maine, who advocated for a "fetal personhood" bill in the state; and Judge Maria Lanahan to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, who defended Missouri’s near-total abortion ban and pushed for restrictions on medication abortion.
"For the second time this week, Susan Collins has voted to confirm ANOTHER anti-abortion, MAGA judge," said Jackson on Thursday. "It’s time we send her packing."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Vance Is a Dirtbag': Troy Jackson Responds to VP Downplaying ICE Killing in Maine
"To come here and say, 'Have some perspective'? You ought to have some damn perspective," Jackson said in a video reply to the vice president.
Aug 25, 2026
Troy Jackson, the Democratic US Senate nominee for a critical seat in Maine, denounced Vice President JD Vance on Monday for downplaying the killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national who was killed by a federal immigration agent last month in Biddeford.
During a visit to Maine on Monday, Vance told residents who are "so worried about that situation" to "have a little bit of perspective." Vance added that "we can absolutely investigate every shooting and we will, but we can also secure our border and ensure that that poison stops coming into our country." (The legal representative for Durán Guerrero's family said no federal agencies have reached out as part of any investigation into the killing.)
Jackson, the former president of Maine's Senate who is running to unseat Republican US Sen. Susan Collins, responded to the vice president in a video message posted to social media.
"JD Vance is a dirtbag," said Jackson. "There was a young man who had a Social Security number, he had a job, I mean, he had a life. He had a family. To come here and say, 'Have some perspective'? You ought to have some damn perspective. I mean, you don't even know what the hell's goin' on. You got a rogue agency that's going around, pulling people out of homes."
Jackson then turned his attention to Collins, who recently voted for legislation that included around $70 billion in funding for US immigration agencies, including nearly $40 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After an ICE agent killed Durán Guerrero last month, Collins refused to say she regretted her vote to boost the agency's funding.
"I want to know: What are you doing about it, Susan?" Jackson asked. "She gave them an additional $70 billion to pull this shit off. We lost a person that JD Vance seems to not give a shit about. And that should piss us all off. So I want to know: Do you agree with JD Vance dismissing the killing of this young man? Because I tell you what, 'concerns' and all that does nothing for all of us, does nothing for that family, and I'm sick of your 'concerns.'"
My response to @JDVance saying we should "have a little bit of perspective" on ICE murdering a young father pic.twitter.com/fNRxN9oBiF
— Troy Jackson (@TroyJackson207) August 24, 2026
During his remarks in Brewer, Maine on Monday, Vance said Collins is "doing an amazing job" and characterized her as "the most independent member of the United States Senate," even though she votes with President Donald Trump around 96% of the time.
Misha Linnehan, a spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party, said in response to the vice president's remarks that "Susan Collins voted to give Donald Trump and JD Vance $70 billion to send armed ICE agents into Maine with no guardrails."
"Now that a man has been killed," said Linnehan, "JD Vance thinks Mainers need to ‘have a little bit of perspective’ about children losing their father and a wife losing her husband—does Susan Collins agree?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy