A Democrat-aligned advocacy group is trying to pin President Trump’s war against Iran on Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, pressing Republicans on why they’re willing to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars overseas instead of investing in voters at home.
“Another war in the Middle East costing Americans almost a billion dollars a day,” the narrator says in the Majority Forward ad. “Susan Collins voted to give Donald Trump a blank check for his war in Iran, but home in Maine, Susan Collins supported cutting Medicaid and raising our insurance costs.”
Ms. Collins has a target on her back in the midterm elections. Democrats’ effort to flip control of the Senate will likely be dashed if she wins re-election.
Ms. Collins was campaigning in Maine in late February when she learned that Mr. Trump had signed off on a joint military strike with Israel against Iran. Since then, the five-term incumbent voted against an Iran War Powers resolution that would have required Mr. Trump to get Congress to sign off before taking additional military action against Iran.
Maine’s junior senator, Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, supported the failed resolution.
Ms. Collins voted against Mr. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which Democrats criticized for reducing future Medicaid spending to help offset tax breaks. She cited concerns about cuts to Medicaid and rural hospitals.
Ms. Collins is set to face off in November against the winner of the Democratic primary between Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and former Marine, and Gov. Janet Mills.
Mr. Platner has been an outspoken critic of the war against Iran, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forced Mr. Trump to act after failing to get his predecessors to do the same and criticizing the Pentagon’s request for $200 billion for war costs.
Ms. Mills has also criticized the president’s push for war, arguing that the administration “recklessly” dove in.
Ms. Collins has said she hopes the military campaign is brief and successful, arguing the move was justified given that Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
She told reporters this week in Maine that if Mr. Trump wants to send ground troops into Iran, he must receive a green light from Congress.
“My reading of the War Powers Act is that the president should not be taking that step without a specific authorization from Congress, and the authorization that I’m not willing to provide based on the information I now have,” Ms. Collins said.
The Majority Forward ad features clips of local reports showing that 60,000 Mainers have seen their health care costs rise due to the expiration of the enhanced COVID subsidies and a photo of Ms. Collins smiling in front of Mr. Trump at the White House.
“Tell Susan Collins to get her priorities straight,” the narrator says. “We need that money in Maine — not the Middle East.”
Shawn Roderick, a Collins campaign spokesperson, said the attack smacks of desperation and underscores how Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer “can’t figure out what to do in Maine.”
“As Governor Mills, his top recruit, struggles, he’s afraid to attack Graham Platner because of the blowback he will get from national progressives,” Mr. Roderick said. “So he just flails away with the same half-truths and lies we saw fail miserably in 2020.
“Mainers know that, as chair of the Appropriations Committee, Susan Collins delivers real results for our state,” he said.
The campaign said Ms. Collins has been a staunch champion of the Medicaid program and that the Senate has never voted to authorise any money for the Iran war.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated how Ms. Collins voted last year on the One Big Beautiful Bill.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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