The New England region of the United States comprises six states, more than 15 million people, 21 seats in the House of Representatives, and 12 senators. Yet, of this congressional delegation, only one is a Republican — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — at least for now.
In the Pine Tree State, Democrat Troy Jackson has a slight lead in the polls. Over her 30 years in the Senate, Collins has pulled a lot of electoral footballs from Democrat Charlie Browns, who thought victory and a Senate seat were a chip shot away.
In Maine, I chatted with Republican State House Representative Laurel Libby — a rising star in the local GOP and possible heir to the kind of centrist Republicanism that Collins has managed to cling to in this mostly blue region.
Libby told Fox News Digital that “[Collins] is great on constituent services and goes out of her way to be in the community,” adding, “it’s kind of hysterical for Troy Jackson to say she doesn’t hold town halls. Susan Collins is out in the community constantly.”
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I pressed Libby a bit on what role, especially if Collins holds on to win, the Maine and broader New England Republican Party can play in the post Trump era — which lies just over two years over the horizon. She replied, “I think we need to be providing the long-term solutions for Maine.
“We’ve seen what a Democrat trifecta [in state government] has done for Maine. During Jackson’s time in the Senate, he is responsible for our electricity costs going up 70%,” she said. “He supported a budget that went up 50%.”
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These were concerns that I also heard from Don, a Vietnam veteran in his late 70s who recently moved into Bangor from a nearby farm after his wife passed away.
“All those Democrats south of [the state capital] Augusta, they just think everyone is made of money, and it’s really hurting normal folks,” Don said.
Among Republican voters in Bangor, and even some Independents, the word “Augusta,” is generally uttered with approximately the level of disdain Jerry Seinfeld had when saying “Newman!”
Dan and Tess, a couple in their 30s, were in town from Massachusetts, of which Maine was once a part. They both see Collins as a strong centrist voice for the region.
“It’s a problem when every politician in New England is a Democrat,” Dan said. “Especially when the Democrats are out of power.”
Chris, also from Massachusetts, was in Maine upgrading carrier lines. When asked what Republicans could do to get a foothold in the region, he said, “I don’t really know, when the state’s been Democratic [for so long]. … Coming together to the people with things that don’t pull sides apart, because they have two sides, but they’re supposed to meet in the middle.”
This is a point that Libby refined in our conversation when asked about the fact that Collins was campaigning this week with former moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, while Jackson barnstormed with far-left New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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“It’s absolutely representative of what they both [would] bring to the Senate,” Libby told Fox News Digital. “Susan Collins has proven that she is willing and able to work in a bipartisan manner, to get things done, and during his time in the [state] Senate, did the opposite,” including Libby claims a few end runs around the Maine Constitution.
Manchin is now out of power, mostly owing to his refusal to bow to the far left zeitgeist of the current Democratic Party. This is thus far a fate Susan Collins has avoided over the past decade when she distances herself from Trump and MAGA populism.
If Troy Jackson does manage to topple Collins, the message to Republicans in Maine and New England will be that centrism doesn’t work, that they need bare knuckle brawlers more like Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, than bipartisan peacemakers like Collins.
Nationally, there are some hardcore Republicans who would welcome a Collins loss in this respect. They see moderate Republicans as more of an obstacle than an asset. But most in the GOP concede that holding the Senate for Trump’s final two years in office outweighs the broader ideological intraparty fights.
Win, lose, or draw for Collins, in the future it will be younger Republican politicians like Libby, who will have to define what a Republican is in Maine, New England, and to some degree in America as a whole.
Democrats exiled Joe Manchin for his lack of political purity; they are on the way to doing the same to Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., even though, somewhat hilariously, he really could wind up as the 51st vote in a one-seat Democratic majority next year.
If Maine Republicans can save Susan Collins once again, it will show that the GOP really can, at least in part, and unlike Democrats, embrace moderate and centrist positions — a point that could play heavily in their favor as both parties try to define themselves for the post-Trump age.