{"id":1055,"date":"2026-07-13T09:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2026-07-13T09:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:39:24","slug":"collins-sticks-to-script-as-dem-chaos-erupts-following-platner-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1055","title":{"rendered":"Collins Sticks to Script as Dem Chaos Erupts Following Platner Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins has a simple campaign strategy after Graham Platner\u2019s implosion<\/span>: Stay the course.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Wants to Scale Up Munitions Production, But Congress Hasn\u2019t Yet Funded It<\/a><\/p>\n

Democrats in Maine and at the national level are reckoning with their own tumult after a woman publicly accused the Democrats\u2019 nominee of sexual assault, effectively ending Platner\u2019s campaign. Now the party is forced to launch a two-week process to coalesce around his replacement.<\/p>\n

But Collins is hardly changing a beat in her operation despite facing a brand new general election opponent \u2014 one who could be vastly different from the progressive Platner, who Republicans were itching to draw a contrast with \u2014 just over three months out from the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe hasn\u2019t made the story about her in any way, as much as others have tried to make it about her. She has done a really good job of making this the Democrats\u2019 problem and not inserting herself into this, which I think a less seasoned politician would have screwed up,\u201d one national GOP operative told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

Collins, the five-term senator, has long been atop the list of incumbents Democrats hope to topple this cycle, given her standing as the lone Republican representing a state won by former Vice President Kamala Harris two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou picture candidate X, and that story comes out and they\u2019re having press conferences \u2026 out in front of his office or his home calling for him to step down. She did the right thing, which was: \u2018This isn\u2019t our problem to figure out,\u2019\u201d the operative continued about the approach to Platner\u2019s collapse. \u201c\u2018My job is to represent Maine right now.\u2019 That\u2019s it, right? Her posture during this has certainly benefited her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the state\u2019s blue tilt, defeating Collins has proved to be a difficult endeavor. Democrat Sara Gideon led for much of the 2020 campaign, only to see Collins win handily.<\/p>\n

Despite the uncertainty this year, Collins is likely to continue with the same posture she\u2019s had throughout the Democratic infighting. She\u2019s said very little, issuing a statement<\/u><\/span> calling the allegations against Platner \u201cappalling\u201d but saying it\u2019s \u201cnot up to me\u201d to choose the Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n

She took a similar tone Saturday in her first remarks since Platner\u2019s exodus from the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really not my call,\u201d she told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m not a Democrat. I\u2019m not involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never take any race for granted. I\u2019ve always worked as hard as I can for the people in Maine,\u201d Collins continued, pointing to her 10,000-plus consecutive vote streak.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also been keeping up appearances, having attended a trio of July Fourth parades around the semiquincentennial and a pair of events on Saturday. Among those was a ribbon-cutting for a fire station that was built with funds she helped secure.<\/p>\n

While the news coverage over the Senate\u2019s July Fourth recess was dominated by the latest allegations against Platner and the fallout, Collins, as Senate Appropriations Chair, touted her work pushing back<\/u><\/span> at the Trump administration\u2019s grantmaking practices, a way to demonstrate some independence from the president.<\/p>\n

Collins returns to Washington on Monday for a four-week sprint focused on putting her stamp on a range of spending bills.<\/p>\n

This lets her effectively show she is above the fray and hammer home her case as the stable senator who has consistently delivered for her state and constituents.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018The Patr\u00f3n\u2019: How Henry Cuellar and His Family Control Webb County, Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the environment that\u2019s been created in that state now, this drama that\u2019s occurred, I don\u2019t know \u2014 it seems very unstable. But changing course now when you have Susan Collins, who\u2019s just been so reliable for your state, is a tricky proposition for a voter,\u201d said a second Republican operative who\u2019s worked on Senate races. \u201cI think that\u2019s going to play into Collins\u2019 favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operative noted that Collins\u2019 last reelection campaign was \u201cvery deliberate\u201d and targeted against Gideon, but that much of the race involved the senator making her case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s gonna be advertisements, yes, but Susan Collins never stopped talking about Susan Collins. She didn\u2019t spend a ton of time only talking about Sara Gideon,\u201d the operative continued. \u201cThis will be the same case where she can point to the trainwreck that\u2019s on the other side of her and present herself as the stable stateswoman that Maine needs, that they\u2019ve relied upon for many, many years. I think the chaos is part of the message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins has unsurprisingly centered her campaign on her ability to secure funding and projects for her home state and constituent services, both of which have been prominently featured in ads. She is also backstopped by her best-funded campaign<\/u><\/span> ever.<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s missing at present is an opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that changes is we need a new oppo book,\u201d a third Republican operative said.<\/p>\n

There are a number of unknowns that remain, especially for outside Republican groups that were funding the brunt of negative ads targeting Platner. Those groups must now change course as they await a new opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were excited about the prospect of running against Platner. … Now we don\u2019t know who we\u2019re running against,\u201d a fourth GOP operative involved in Senate races told NOTUS. \u201cUntil then, it\u2019s a floating situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

One factor that helps Republicans is that almost all of those who\u2019ve thrown their hat in the ring are familiar to them in one way or another, as many of them have already appeared on the ballot earlier this year.<\/p>\n

A new poll<\/u><\/span> taken shows three potential opponents \u2014 Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Troy Jackson, the former state Senate president \u2014 in tight, hypothetical matchups with Collins. All three fell short in their bids for the Maine Democratic gubernatorial nomination last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan Collins has defeated every DC-anointed candidate Chuck Schumer has sent her way,\u201d Samantha Cantrell, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson, said in a statement. \u201cAnd she\u2019ll defeat whichever loser comes out of this process as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins was also in a neck-and-neck battle<\/u><\/span> with Platner before his collapse, according to recent polls.<\/p>\n

Democrats hope that this would finally be the cycle to defeat Collins \u2013 especially without Trump on the ballot. The president\u2019s presence tends to increase Republican turnout and has boosted Collins in the past..<\/p>\n

Even with the current party disorder, they still believe the environment can carry the day. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) declared last week that the party would still topple Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan Collins is more vulnerable than she has ever been after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time, being the decisive vote for the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and selling out to the special interests that fund her campaigns after three decades in the Senate,\u201d a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cIn November, Maine voters will reject her self-serving politics and elect a Democrat who will fight for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more McConnell\u2019s Office Says Fall and Mild Pneumonia Caused His Weekslong Hospital Stay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Her opponent is changing, but little else is as Collins keeps up her hyper-local campaign plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-election"],"yoast_head":"\nCollins Sticks to Script as Dem Chaos Erupts Following Platner Exit - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collins Sticks to Script as Dem Chaos Erupts Following Platner Exit - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Her opponent is changing, but little else is as Collins keeps up her hyper-local campaign plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T09:39:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Collins Sticks to Script as Dem Chaos Erupts Following Platner Exit\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T09:39:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055\"},\"wordCount\":1226,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/e54de46c7b5c27bcfe661be3a1c46f9e-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 Election\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055\",\"name\":\"Collins Sticks to Script as Dem Chaos Erupts Following Platner Exit - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/e54de46c7b5c27bcfe661be3a1c46f9e-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T09:39:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1055#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/e54de46c7b5c27bcfe661be3a1c46f9e-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/e54de46c7b5c27bcfe661be3a1c46f9e-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, walks to the chamber after meeting behind closed doors with fellow Republicans on the Homeland Security budget stalemate, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2026. 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