Police have checked on Sen. Susan Collins’ home more than 500 times since a 2018 vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to data reviewed by the Bangor Daily News.
The checks are logged by the Bangor Police Department as “property checks,” the same category typically used when a resident requests a watch on an empty or troubled property. But in Collins’ case, the department said, the checks are driven by threats and safety concerns relayed by the U.S. Capitol Police, not by Collins herself.
The pattern traces the arc of Collins’ transformation from a broadly popular figure into a nationally polarizing one drawing strong Democratic challenges. Each surge in checks lines up with a Collins vote or moment that drew national attention, and it mirrors a broader spike in threats against members of Congress that has left law enforcement treating her home as a stop on routine patrols rather than a rare response to a specific danger.
Nationally, the U.S. Capitol Police investigated nearly 15,000 concerning statements, behaviors and communications against members of Congress, their families and staff in 2025, up from fewer than 9,500 in 2024, according to a January news release. A study by the Chicago Project on Security and Threats found threats against members of Congress skyrocketed 600% between 2016 and 2017 and have stayed elevated since, attributing it to an era of “violent populism” spanning both parties.
The checks on Collins’ homes in Bangor over the years have outpaced those of her colleagues in Maine’s congressional delegation. In the last 10 years, Brunswick police checked on the home of Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, only 77 times, according to the department.
In the last year, police officers checked the home of Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District, about 10 times, the Lewiston Police Department said. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to a BDN request for call data for checks on the North Haven Island home of Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from the 1st District.
The Capitol Police declined to discuss the arrangement or the volume of threats against Maine’s delegation, citing safety reasons.
Bangor police logged 424 checks at Collins’ former West Broadway home between August 2013, when she moved in, and September 2022, when she relocated to one near the Glenburn line. Since then, officers have logged 200 checks, including on at least 67 separate days so far in 2026. Each check takes about a minute, a department spokesperson said.
Some of the threats against Collins have been serious. After her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, her husband opened a letter claiming to contain ricin at their Bangor home, prompting a hazmat response. Two days later, a second threatening letter addressed to Collins was intercepted before delivery. A Maine woman was sentenced to federal prison for sending it.
Later surges followed the House’s second impeachment vote against Donald Trump in January 2021, and the May and June 2022 leak and release of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, a ruling Kavanaugh joined. Five days after the leak, Bangor police went to Collins’ home after she called over an abortion-rights message chalked on her sidewalk. Police said no crime occurred, but they responded anyway.
The woman who wrote that message ran a write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination to challenge Collins’ this year. Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson won the nod after nominee Graham Platner withdrew in July following a rape allegation.
A fourth wave of threats came in July 2025, when Collins was one of three Republican senators to vote against the “One Big Beautiful Bill” reconciliation package. A fifth followed in November and December, as Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led negotiations to end a 43-day government shutdown.
Following the Jan. 6 attack, the Federal Election Commission ruled that members of Congress could use campaign funds for personal security. In the years since, Collins has spent nearly $5,800 on residential security systems, according to FEC filings. Golden has spent more than $11,000, while King has spent nearly $4,200 and Pingree spent nothing.
Blake Kernen, a Collins campaign spokesperson, said in a statement that the Capitol Police and the Senate sergeant at arms have reported the number of threats are “extremely high.”
“Unfortunately, Senator Collins and her family have been subject to an escalating number of serious threats in recent years,” Kernen said. “We are thankful to the United States Capitol Police and the Bangor Police for their proactive efforts to protect Senator Collins and for the work they do every day to keep everyone in the community safe.”
