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Dennis Chinoy is a retired oncology physician’s assistant who lives in Bangor.
It seems that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection success hinges on touting her role in procuring funding for Maine communities and organizations.
The problem I see is that the earmarks she bestows don’t offset the economic injury inflicted on a large swath of Maine’s population by her support for President Donald Trump’s agenda that’s concentrating wealth in fewer and fewer hands.
Greater still is the total burden we bear for her seeming tacit support of the Trump administration’s corruption on a colossal scale, trashing of democratic institutions, putting rogue ICE patrols on our streets and her fateful vote leading to the reversal of Roe v Wade.
Collins’ pivotal vote to bring the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill to the Senate floor assured the continuation of tax cuts favoring the wealthiest, subsidized primarily by cuts to SNAP and Medicaid. In Maine, it has resulted in roughly 34,000 people losing their Medicaid coverage, nearly 23,000 to abandon their Affordable Care Act health insurance, while double that number incurred spiking premiums when ACA subsidies expired. Thirteen thousand Mainers have lost SNAP benefits. All these numbers are likely to increase.
Her vote in March against invoking a war powers resolution enabled the continuation of the Iran war, with $4 a gallon gas prices now piled onto Mainers’ already stretched budgets, and a taxpayer cost accumulating at $1,000 per second. These financial strains are especially harsh when 45% of Maine households currently struggle to pay for their basic needs of housing, food, childcare, healthcare and transportation.
Though affordability issues for Mainers will likely be central, I believe Collins’ shameful vote to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court deserves to dog her in the next 12 weeks. I think her declaration, “I do not regret that vote” will not help matters. Nor do I think Collins blandly noting she was “disappointed” by the ruling gives the impression she has much appreciation for the disastrous consequences for millions of women nationwide. Instead, Collins went on to say after Roe v. Wade reversal, “I feel misled,” as though she is the victim here.
For Collins, another ill-timed tragedy is the killing by ICE of Johan Durán Guerrero at a traffic stop in Biddeford. The killing took place shortly after she voted to award ICE another $70 billion without any restrictions on their behavior.
Collins and her allies will devote millions of dollars for a barrage of attack ads targeting Democrat Troy Jackson. Early trial balloons have included “political insider,” a Graham Platner clone, and Bernie Bro peddling a socialist agenda.
Jackson has a record of working passionately as state Senate president to provide material benefits I believe most Mainers desire: fair wages and working conditions, lower prescription drug prices, affordable healthcare, available child care, a farmworker minimum wage, funding of the state’s veterans’ homes. And yes, steeper income tax rates on the wealthiest individuals. If Collins wants to depict those goals as a radical leftist agenda, good luck with that.
The political insider in this race is not Troy Jackson, but Susan Collins. This congressional session alone she has been lobbied by over 1,000 organizations, heavily representing defense contractors, pharmaceutical industries, healthcare systems and the financial industry. Not coincidentally, these sectors reflect much of her donor base.
While Collins boasts about bringing home the goods for her state, these funding sources should clarify that most of the golden eggs issued from her office are not directly for Mainers’ consumption. The Pine Tree Solutions super PAC, which is backing Collins and is funded by nearly 100 billionaires or their spouses, makes it plain to me that the billionaire class as well as corporate interests have a keen interest in Republicans retaining control of the Senate.
With a $60 million war chest as a shield, I don’t expect Collins to expose herself to much public scrutiny at gatherings besides parades, ribbon cuttings and county fairs. I believe the candidate for reelection who has not held a town hall in 25 years will rely on an ad campaign to offer us a carefully curated Susan Collins, courageous independent woman senator from Maine.
Will Mainers buy it?