By
/ CBS News
Lewiston, Maine — Republican Sen. Susan Collins is campaigning on a simple idea: She can sit across the table from anyone. On Wednesday, she did it literally, sharing breakfast sandwiches with Democrat-turned-independent Joe Manchin and a roomful of Maine voters as she makes her case to people of every political stripe.
"She's not a Trump senator. She's not a Republican senator or a Democrat senator," Manchin told reporters after dining with Collins in the morning. "She's an American senator that represents her state of Maine."
Collins is the only Republican senator up for reelection in a state that President Trump lost. CBS News rates the race a toss-up. But Collins, who is running for a sixth term, has a history of surviving tough reelection battles and outrunning other Republicans. In 2020, she won by more than 8 points, even as Mr. Trump lost Maine by 9 points.
Both Collins and Manchin — who represented deep-red West Virginia in the Senate before leaving the Democratic Party and retiring in 2024 — have a history of clashing with their respective parties.
Collins worked to distance herself when pressed on Mr. Trump on Wednesday. While touring a local New Balance factory, she was asked about Trump envoy Steve Witkoff calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "humanitarian" for releasing a jailed U.S. citizen. The question drew a visible reaction from Manchin, who shook his head. Collins responded with a flat "no."
"I would describe Putin as a warmonger, a thug. He's certainly not a humanitarian. He is the aggressor in the war against Ukraine," she said. She also said she does not support Mr. Trump's decision to waive new sanctions on Russia and strike a diesel deal with Moscow to import Russian diesel, arguing it will give Russia more funding to attack Ukraine.
Collins, who has long defected from parts of Mr. Trump's agenda, has also criticized the president's handling of the Iran war. In debates, she has said the president did not have a good plan and that the conflict should end. Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, doesn't believe she's sincere in her rebukes.
"She's the chair of appropriations. If she wants to stop the war, she can cut the funding off for the war," Jackson said at a debate last week. "But she's not willing to do that because Donald Trump wants this and that's what is going to happen."
Similar skepticism popped up outside of Collins' breakfast stop. A group of protesters shouted for the incumbent to retire and held signs and cutouts of Brett Kavanaugh's face, a reference to her vote to confirm the Supreme Court justice. Collins' supporters, dressed in bright red, drowned them out with chants of "six more years," when she stepped outside to talk to the press and her tour bus blocked the demonstrators from view.
Elaine Makas, a Lewiston Democrat who served in the state legislature from 2002 to 2008, joined the protest. She said she's grateful for Collins' service and calls her "genuinely a nice person," but argued that is not enough.
"She's just voting wrong," Makas told CBS News. "She's fallen completely in line with the president."
Collins has argued that she frequently votes against Mr. Trump's wishes.
Makas echoed Jackson's line of attack. "She only disagrees with him when her vote doesn't matter," she said. She said she personally knows Jackson, a former state Senate president, from their time in the legislature and believes he'll "listen" to Mainers.