President Donald Trump is attempting to convince voters that he is also on the ballot in the coming midterms, but according to The Hill, one of the most vulnerable Republicans is scrambling to keep themselves separate from him as his approval turns toxic.
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Trump is reportedly fond of the notion that he helps drive voter turnout for other Republicans when he has been on the ballot while running for president. This phenomenon is borne out in the data, as the party has typically performed better than anticipated when he is also running, while underperforming in midterm and off-year elections.
As such, the president has been attempting to convince potential midterm voters that a vote for any Republican this year is a vote for him and his agenda, to help drive turnout in a year when the party is expected to get thrashed by Democrats. As voters signal their increasing disdain for his leadership, however, more and more Republicans in vulnerable races are attempting to distance themselves from him, including one of the most vulnerable lawmakers in the country: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
“Sen. Susan Collins (R), fighting an uphill re-election battle in blue-leaning Maine, is sending the opposite signal, flexing her independent streak and keeping her distance from Trump and Vice President [JD] Vance,” The Hill wrote in a Wednesday morning report. “In recent days, she has been the loudest elected Republican criticising Trump’s tariff war with Canada. Earlier this month, Collins was one of two GOP no votes on Todd Blanche, Trump’s new attorney general. And in July, she was a rare voice on the right calling for federal immigration officers to halt non-urgent traffic stops this summer after a deadly shooting in Biddeford, Maine.”
As the report noted, Collins is facing some of the worst headwinds for a Republican candidate in an environment that is already collapsing for the party, given her long history of controversial and high-profile votes. She is also, notably, the only Republican seeking reelection this year in a state that went for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
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In a recent interview, she broke with Trump’s recent decision to reignite a trade war with Canada, a particularly damaging situation for a state like Maine that is closely linked economically with their neighbors to the north.
“I really want us to go back to the very friendly, economically beneficial relationship that we have with our Canadian neighbors,” Collins told News Center Maine. “We produce a lot in Maine — our blueberries, our potatoes, our lobster, our lumber — that is processed across the border. If it comes back with a huge tariff on it, perhaps as much as 50 percent, that increases the cost of eating, building homes and merch[andising] our best-known products.”
Lance Dutson, a former senior campaign advisor to Collins, told the outlet that Trump is actually her “biggest challenge” to overcome, and not an asset, as he has been insisting.
“The discussion of [Supreme Court Justice Brett] Kavanaugh… or Canadian tariffs or any of these individual issues just absolutely pales in comparison to the general nausea people have about this administration right now,” Dutson explained.
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