Democratic U.S. Sen.-elect Troy Jackson heads to Washington in early January with the enthusiasm of a party that swept control of Congress but without the clout of Sen. Susan Collins, the outgoing head of the Appropriations Committee.
The five-term Republican made bringing home federal dollars a centerpiece of her campaign, often touting the $1.5 billion she brought to Maine over the past five years. But Collins fell victim to a nationwide and statewide push for change at a time of deep anger and economic uncertainty under the second administration of President Donald Trump.
That change is certain to come with a cost when it comes to federal earmarks, based on similar dynamics in other states that lost a senior appropriator. After a handful of states lost appropriators, earmarks dried up by as much as half in a flow that gradually reverses after the lawmaker departs, according to a Journal of Political Economy study from 2012.
The problem shows itself even more when the incoming senator doesn’t get on the Appropriations Committee, a rarity for a freshman. Jackson has expressed interest in a spot on the panel currently chaired by Collins.
“The Senate is so seniority driven,” Larry Persily, an Alaska newspaper publisher and former federal and state government official who served as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, said in an interview. “By losing [the late Republican Sen.] Ted Stevens and his position in the Senate, of course Alaska lost clout in getting money.”
Collins helped drive almost $425 million, fourth-most among senators, to Maine this fiscal year. The entire congressional delegation’s earmarks totaled about $460 million, or $328 per resident, a per-capita rate second only to Alaska, according to The Maine Monitor.
The Jackson campaign and Collins’ office did not respond to requests for comment. Federal staffers and experts said Thursday that it’s too early to delve into committee assignments in the new Congress for either Jackson or independent Sen. Angus King, who will be Maine’s senior senator but does not sit on Appropriations.
Jackson still arrives on Capitol Hill without some of the advantages of other freshmen who previously replaced prominent drivers of earmarks. Several said that while Jackson faces challenges on earmarks, Democrats and Maine’s congressional delegation are likely to work together to keep the state front and center as appropriators craft budgets.
“They’ll be aware of his needs to produce,” Persily said of Democrats and Jackson.
When former Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama was the appropriations chair, he helped secure more than $548 million in home-state projects in fiscal year 2022, the second-most in the country. That jumped to $656 million the following year, his final year in office.
When Republican Sen. Katie Britt took over in 2023, Alabama’s total fell to less than half of that. But Britt was assigned to appropriations, so she secured $232 million for ninth-most among senators. She was previously Shelby’s chief of staff, coming into office knowing the committee and its processes.
“We’ve been fortunate to have federal officials who are focused on growing the Alabama Port Authority,” Jason Johnson, a spokesman for the agency, said in a Thursday email. “Senator Britt has done a remarkable job picking up where Senator Shelby left off, and we’re incredibly fortunate that her leadership on the Appropriations Committee has already brought hundreds of millions of dollars back to Alabama to invest in our state’s future.”
The potential dropoff in federal dollars could be mitigated by King, who has also been among the top senators bringing earmarks home in recent years. His office noted Thursday that he has a strong alliance with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, the likely new appropriations chair.
He also has a healthy relationship with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the centrist Alaska Republican and Collins ally who is likely to step into the top GOP role on the panel in the wake of the Maine senator’s defeat. King has often been in the same room with Murkowski during bipartisan conversations and negotiations over budgets and policy.
On the House side, where former Gov. Paul LePage just won in the 2nd Congressional District over state Auditor Matt Dunlap, Rep. Chellie Pingree sits on the chamber’s Appropriations Committee.
Persily said he would tell any incoming senator hoping to get on the Appropriations Committee to “have a backup plan, buddy.” He noted the government may be “mostly immobilized” over the next two years given the divides between the lame-duck Trump and a Democratic-led Congress. But Jackson and Maine as a whole could be poised for long-term success, Persily said.
“If the Democrats take White House in 2028, there will be even more consideration for making sure the first-term Maine senator can campaign for reelection with success stories,” he said.