It just ended: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-collins-jackson-face-off-in-maine-u-s-senate-debate

Their fourth and final debate tonight with PBS moderators

Sidenote: I thought it was odd when that Susan Collins was dumbfounded when asked to name a time she voted against her party when her vote actually mattered. She brought up the Hegseth vote where it *almost* mattered. The moderator pointed out that vote didn't matter. She said someone in the press counted 56 times once, but the fact that she couldn't think of one single example in her 30 years was striking.

Something I didn't really understand which happened in every single debate- Susan Collins was somehow touting her work on the OBBBA as a good thing, while also bragging about her vote against the final bill (as an example of her bucking the party)?

It keeps coming up because it cuts ~$1 trillion in Medicaid over 10 years. To over-simplify things for brevity, this hurts reimbursements and OBBBA is responsible for rural hospitals closing all around the country- including Maine. It's a nuanced issue, so for some context:

In the first debate, Troy Jackson said Collins voted to advance the OBBBA to the senate floor out of her committee. Jackson was wrong- he misspoke by saying she voted it out of her committee, and Collins noted and torched him for his mistake. It was a full Senate vote, for a motion to proceed on the OBBBA and to the floor to debate. It passed 51-49 with Collins voting to advance.

Collins has defended this vote for the OBBBA by saying "it would've passed anyway"- which could be true, as VP Vance could break if it was a 50/50 tie... but it's a cop-out answer. The initial draft had some truly dreadful shit in there (like.. literally no laws regulating AI for 10 years!), so it's very possible another Republican could've gotten a spine and voted down the package in its original form. Yes, after it passed, it was further amended to remove some of the truly terrible things, as well as add in the RHTF amendment, which Collins "championed"...

Collins touted the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund in each debate, which she did help negotiate into the OBBBA (with Murkowski, Hawley, some others). This was inserted to help fund rural hospitals because they all realized that this bill will slowly eliminate rural hospitals/healthcare. Maine received $190 million this first year from the OBBBA/RHTF, which sounds great!

But this is a fraction of reimbursements vs what's being lost, and only a five year band-aid for a major ten year wound.
$ 1,000,000,000,000 is one trillion, being cut over 10 years (or $100 bil/year)

$ 50,000,000,000 is fifty billion, being restored/funded over 5 years ($10 bil/year)

The OBBBA also imposes several more costs like various stricter/more frequent verification rules, non-emergency medical transportation cuts, and this isn't even taking the Medicare sequestration into account which could literally be another 1/2 trillion itself! This is why Jackson compared her work to "an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out". Rural hospitals (that were already struggling) simply can't keep up with these changes the OBBBA imposes.

So Susan Collins wants credit for the RHTF amendment... that she ultimately voted against, because she doesn't want credit for the massive cuts that were in the bill that she voted for (to advance).

Can anyone explain the logic on how Collins could possibly see/tout the changes rural healthcare from the OBBBA as a good thing?

Donald Trump has told voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. Susan Collins, what do you think about the job Trump has done?

The anti-education party, folks.

Driving through Maine this weekend I saw many signs that read “Fight Corruption Vote Republican”.

How’s that for an example of “Every Republican Accusation is a Confession”?

How to counteract such malevolent advertising?

Is anyone putting up signs like “Fight Corruption Vote for Democrats”?

How come you can find any info on most the write-ins listed in ballotpedia? Ashley Webb at least answered the survey but there’s no other info for the rest of them. I want to make sure I’m using my rank choice voting the best way.

put every answer from last night's debate through semblen (i built it, it flags manipulation techniques like loaded language, name calling etc, doesn't say who's right)

collins: 2 of 30 answers flagged

jackson: 9 of 31 flagged, mostly loaded language and name calling

also fact-checked the factual claims each made. nothing came back contradicted. collins 15 supported, jackson 9, but most claims on both sides (23 and 27) just couldn't be checked against fact-checkers or primary sources, which doesn't mean they're false

every answer and every flag is on the page so you can judge it yourself: https://semblen.com/races/me-senate/debates/2026-10-08

if anything looks off please let me know and i'll look at it

Election after election, Republican Sen. Susan Collins has defied national political winds to return to office, representing a state that has backed Democrats in every presidential contest since 1992. But her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, is betting that her eight-year-old vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court’s subsequent overturning of federal abortion rights will persuade voters to sweep her out of office. 

posted the ads thing here last week or so. it's at 478 ads now for the senate race, the stuff running on the platforms' public ad archives since july.

a model reads each one for manipulation techniques, loaded language, name calling, fear appeals, and marks the words so you can see exactly what got flagged.

maine is the calmest of the 13 senate races i'm tracking. 34% of ads flagged, next lowest is ohio at 46 and nebraska is at 69. ads here are short, median 30 words, which probably helps.

split by side it's lopsided in a way that surprised me. collins's own campaign: 63 of 326 flagged, mostly feel good stuff. jackson's campaign: 61 of 83. but the groups backing collins run hot too, 29 of 48. and attack ads get flagged way more than intro ads no matter who runs them, and the challenger runs more attack ads. so it's not a "who's nastier" score.

for tuesday i'm doing the same thing to the debate. every answer gets run through it and the page goes up the next morning, with the flagged words marked. same for the wmtw one thursday and the news center one on the 15th.

the ads and the debate schedule: https://semblen.com/races/me-senate?ref=reddit-me

model's wrong sometimes, about one flag in five when i checked 100 of them by hand. there's a button on each ad if you think it got one wrong.

I am not trying to start a political debate here, just an honest question. In one of the anti Troy Jackson commercials, where they refer to him as "Taxin Jackson", there is a line saying "Even poor Baxter got a fee" while showing a picture of a brown dog. I tried to google this but couldn't find any reference online. Is this intended to be a reference to the tragic accident where Baxter, Maine's official comfort dog and a chocolate lab, unfortunately passed away after being left in a state vehicle? Or is there an actual tax involving dogs that they are referencing?

Between threats of interference with mail-in votes and concerns over polling place disruptions, it can feel stressful to make sure your vote goes smoothly.

One proactive way to ensure your ballot is securely cast is to vote early with our in-person absentee system at your local town office or city hall. It helps take the guesswork out of delivery times and lets you handle voting on your own schedule.

Today is the first day you can go to your town office or city hall to ensure your vote is counted and continues through the 29th.

Reposted with a better link for information on in-person absentee voting.

The first debate between Collins and Jackson is at 7 p.m. Tuesday on CBS 13.

It isnt “panic time” yet for Jackson supporters, but Collins has an advantage, we’ve seen how she outperformed the polls against Gideon. 2026 is a different situation, though, particularly with undecided voters.

Disclaimer because someone commented it in another sub: I know Sara Gideon is alive😂

This will help?

The Maine Republican Party says Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hannah Pingree is benefiting from a billionaire, but when asked for proof, the party didn't provide it. - WGME

Should've been an easy flip to blue.