Susan Collins and Troy Jackson met Tuesday for their first Maine Senate debate, giving voters their first chance to see the candidates on the same stage. Collins, who has held the seat since 1996, faced Jackson as he pressed her on Medicare for All and her vote for Brett Kavanaugh.
The exchange came in a race where most polls show Jackson ahead and Collins is outspending him on the airwaves. That made the debate more than a routine appearance: it was the first direct chance to compare how each candidate argued, answered, and handled pressure before Maine voters.
Collins on Medicare for All
Collins said she does not support Medicare for All because it is too expensive and would cause people to lose their private health plans. She also said an unnamed study found that England’s publicly funded health system has caused thousands of preventable deaths.
Jackson answered that Collins has had publicly funded healthcare all her life and said people dangerously delay care when treatment costs too much. He used her own position to argue that the system already reaches her while leaving others behind.
Jackson presses Collins
Jackson also asked Collins about her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He asked what it would take for her to admit she was wrong for voting for him, turning the debate into a direct test of whether she would revisit one of her most closely watched Senate votes.
Collins said she has always been pro-choice and said Jackson has not been pro-choice. She added, “I clearly don’t agree with how Brett Kavanaugh voted on Roe v. Wade,” drawing a line between her own position and his later record.
Augusta and the ballot box
Collins also challenged Jackson on his record in Augusta, asking why he struggled at times to get bills passed there. Jackson replied that she misunderstands the state legislative process, a point that shifted the debate from national issues back to how each candidate has worked inside government.
The debate followed a shake-up in the Democratic race. Graham Platner withdrew after a woman credibly accused him of sexual assault, and Jackson was nominated to replace him at a convention later that month. For voters, that made Tuesday the first real chance to compare Collins with the new nominee rather than the original one.
The race now turns on whether that first meeting changes how Collins and Jackson are seen by the voters who have not yet made up their minds. The debate gave them a live comparison; the next judgment comes from the ballot box.
