ProPublica corruption allegations against Collins roil tight Maine Senate race
A new investigation alleges a pay-to-play scheme involving the senator, her staff, and a military contractor weeks before the election.
What to know
- ProPublica's Tuesday investigation alleges a pay-to-play scheme between Collins, her staff, and a military contractor; Democrats are trying to make the allegations stick with less than two weeks until early voting begins.
- The latest poll shows Collins at 49% and Jackson at 46%—a statistical toss-up—with 5% undecided, giving Democrats little room for error.
- Collins's camp dismisses the allegations as recycled accusations, while a Colby College professor suggests the accusations could crack her long-cultivated reputation as a constituent-focused senator if new evidence emerges.
“It's going to be tough. I think there is a predisposition to not imagine that Susan Collins would engage in this … that this would not be something Susan would do.”
Dan Shea, Government professor, Colby College · MS NOW ↗ · Sep 23
Susan Collins U.S. Senator from Maine
Troy Jackson Democratic challenger to CollinsProPublica Investigative outletMaine Democratic Party State party organization
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articles
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Latest poll shows Collins-Jackson race as statistical toss-up
A New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll released Thursday morning shows Collins at 49% and Jackson at 46% among likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points and 5% undecided. The survey was conducted mostly before the ProPublica story broke. With in-person early voting set to begin in less than two weeks, both campaigns view the race as crucial to Senate control.
“corruption in the highest order…”
— Troy Jackson, Democratic challenger · source -
background
Expert cautions that allegations could crack Collins's long-built reputation — Dan Shea, a government professor at Colby College, said the allegations will be hard to land because of Collins's 30-year reputation as constituent-focused, but added that "as new evidence emerges, I think there could be a growing crack in that narrative." He advised Democrats against aggressive immediate messaging and to "let the media do their business."
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Collins camp dismisses allegations as recycled accusations — Collins and her aides vigorously denied the allegations, with her chief of staff Steven Abbott arguing that ProPublica simply recycled old campaign finance accusations involving contractor Martin Kao. Abbott characterized the attack as routine and tiresome.
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Jackson and Maine Democrats attack Collins over corruption allegations
Troy Jackson called the ProPublica report "corruption in the highest order." On Wednesday morning, Maine Democratic Party leaders gathered reporters outside Collins's Portland office to echo his charge and tie the allegations to their campaign message.
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first by MS NOW, 2d ago
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background
ProPublica publishes investigation alleging Collins pay-to-play scheme — ProPublica released an investigation on Tuesday alleging a pay-to-play scheme involving Sen. Susan Collins, her staff, and a Hawaii-based military contractor. The story appeared on local Maine newscasts that night and remained prominent on Maine newspaper homepages the following day.