GORHAM, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins struck a defiant tone at a truck shop rally and fundraiser in Gorham on Friday, asking supporters and donors to help her fight back against critics.
It capped a tumultuous week in which her campaign came under intense scrutiny after a ProPublica report on an alleged bribery scheme involving a donor to Collins and other lawmakers that the senator has sharply denied. She accused Democrats of throwing “everything and the kitchen sink” at her reelection bid against Democrat Troy Jackson, including an ad tying her to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I need your help in debunking the lies that are out there,” she said during a speech on a massive hydraulic trailer. “Let’s show the people of Maine that integrity still matters.”
The event, hosted by Shawn Moody, the former gubernatorial candidate and founder of Moody’s Collision Centers. It was welcome territory for the senator after days of questions and criticism in Washington. More than 100 supporters and several donors turned out for pizza, nachos and beer, and the event featured a friendly live interview with conservative radio host Howie Carr.
Many supporters shrugged off Tuesday’s ProPublica report and said it wouldn’t affect the five-term incumbent’s race. The issue didn’t come up in her conversation with Carr. Collins did another remote interview with the conservative Maine Wire, but she did not take questions from reporters assembled at the event.
“It certainly is getting an awful lot of play for how ridiculous it is,” Kevin King, 75, of Windham, said.
There were still signs of concern. Some worried that President Donald Trump’s unpopularity, combined with the noise from Democratic attacks over the story, could keep home some of the moderates and Democrats who have helped Collins win before.
“My problem is, people may not vote,” said King, who called Trump a “bloviator” despite supporting his tax policies.
ProPublica’s report centers on Martin Kao, the former CEO of Hawaii-based defense contractor Navatek. His illegal $150,000 donation to a pro-Collins super PAC, made through a shell company, made headlines in her 2020 race.
The FBI looked at Kao’s dealings twice. The first investigation began in 2021, focused on the illegal donations and led to Kao’s 2022 guilty plea to campaign finance crimes. No one working for Collins was charged. The second grew out of what Kao told agents from 2022 through 2024 as he faced prison time, according to ProPublica.
He described a broader scheme in which he said campaign cash bought federal contracts, and agents pushed for a wider bribery inquiry involving members of Congress, ProPublica reported. That inquiry was in its early stages when it ended in 2025, after Trump fired or pushed out most of the agents and prosecutors working on it in a broader FBI purge.
The New York Times reported that the agency closed the investigation because it didn’t believe Kao’s story. The FBI told ProPublica it had investigated the allegations years ago and “ultimately found nothing implicating” Collins or her campaign.
“I don’t think she knew about it,” Keith Emery, 67, a retired mechanic from Buxton, said. “If she was going to do shady deals, she wouldn’t fight so much for Maine.”
Collins has called ProPublica’s reporting a smear campaign meant to throttle her race weeks before Election Day, and her team has focused its response on the earlier investigation. ProPublica pushed back Thursday in a follow-up story, saying the Collins camp had conflated two separate inquiries.
Jackson and the Maine Democratic Party have tried to tie Collins to Trump and several billionaire donors, seizing on the ProPublica story. Jackson has accused the senator of ” corruption of the highest order.”
The race remains tight even though Republicans lead in fundraising and ad spending. A New York Times/Siena College/Portland Press Herald poll released Thursday had Collins up 49% to 46%, though it was taken almost entirely before the ProPublica story. Two other polls out the same day had Jackson ahead, with Democratic and moderate voters making the difference.
In Gorham, Collins touted her record of bringing federal money to Maine and her support for Bath Iron Works, the lobster industry and more. She then worked the crowd, meeting a stream of upbeat supporters who talked about health care and property taxes, shared personal stories and posed for photos.
“She drives me a little batty sometimes because of her occasional votes with Democrats,” Jonathan Loveitt, a 46-year-old construction worker from Gorham, said. “But she votes with her conscience and for what’s best for the people of Maine.”
Loveitt was one of several Collins supporters who said they didn’t buy that Jackson, a progressive former logger from Allagash, would serve working-class Mainers best in the Senate. He said her seat as chair of the Appropriations Committee would “go to nothing” if Jackson went to Washington.
Before she spoke to the crowd, a young man in a red Collins sweatshirt handed out signs to attendees gathered behind her speaking spot, told kids to keep their toes behind a black line and asked the group if they were ready to cheer.
When she took the stage, he shouted above the crowd, “Here we go, Sen. Collins! We love you, Susan!”