Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose brand of political centrism is on the verge of extinction in Washington, announced on Tuesday that she would seek a sixth term in what may be her most challenging and expensive re-election campaign yet.
Ms. Collins, 73, was widely expected to run again and has long been a prime target of Democrats in Maine and Washington. Her frequent statements of concern and regret that follow many of President Trump’s actions have been mocked by her opponents because she has been a reliable vote for the Republican agenda during Mr. Trump’s presidencies.
The Maine Senate seat is crucial to Democratic hopes of retaking control of the chamber in November’s midterm elections. The party must flip four Republican-held seats to win a majority, and Ms. Collins is widely viewed as the most endangered G.O.P. incumbent.
Ms. Collins announced her campaign on social media, with a video showing her opening a box and taking a pair of gray sneakers out of tissue paper.
“This is perfect for 2026,” she says in the video, “because I’m running.”
Ms. Collins has come under fire from Mr. Trump, who said she and four other Republican senators “should never be elected to office again” after they voted with Democrats last month to begin debate over restricting the president’s ability to use military force in Venezuela.
Maine Democrats, whose well-funded candidate against Ms. Collins flopped in 2020, are engaged in one of the nation’s thorniest primaries for the right to oppose her this year. Gov. Janet Mills is the choice of Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, but she faces a tough primary race against Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and political neophyte who is backed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and fellow progressives.
Mr. Platner’s campaign had nearly three times as much cash entering this year as the Mills campaign did. Ms. Collins has accumulated far more money than either Democrat.
While Maine is a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections and has a slate of Democratic statewide elected officials, Ms. Collins has held on, a vestige of a bygone political era. In 2020, she defeated Sara Gideon, a Democrat, by nearly nine percentage points while Mr. Trump lost the state to Joseph R. Biden Jr. by nine points.
Political organizations either supporting and opposing Ms. Collins have for months been running advertising about her, with spending on the race expected to eclipse the record $200 million that was spent on the 2020 race.
Ms. Collins herself appeared prepared in recent days for her campaign announcement.
Last week, an unlisted YouTube link appeared with eight minutes of footage of the senator that was ready-made to be dropped into supportive ads from friendly outside groups. The clips show her interacting with other Maine-looking people — picking blueberries, helping with a lobster haul, tossing a Frisbee to her black Labrador retriever.
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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