Cnn
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Democrats have a great hope while they are jostling to find a high level recruit against the Senator of Gop Susan Collins in Maine: maybe she will not run at all.
Collins, the only republican in the New England Senate, which is at the top of its influence over 28 years in the Chamber, pushed a democratic enemy after the other in hard-fought races to hang on to its siege. And once again, its seat is essential in the rise of Democrats by majority.
But Collins, 72, has not yet made an official announcement that she will run in what will almost certainly be a deadly battle for a sixth mandate. And high -level potential democratic candidates, such as Governor Janet Mills and representative Jared Golden, weigh their next movements while waiting for the final decision of the veteran senator.
In an interview with CNN, Collins pointed out that she planned to run but was not ready to say it officially.
“It is certainly my inclination to run and I prepare to do so,” said Collins at CNN at the end of last week. “I really like to serve the inhabitants of Maine. I obviously did not make an official announcement because it is too early for that. ”
The national republicans believe that Collins – one who chairs the powerful Senate credits committee and is in the most blue siege in the nation – will indeed be on the ballot next November. But if Collins decides against another race, it would transform the race and give Democrats their best chance of overthrowing a mid-term seat.
However, if Collins takes place, the Democrats insist that they can always return the siege, supported by public and private polls which show the holder in the face of new weaknesses due to the unpopularity of President Donald Trump And the expectation that it will be a difficult halfway through for the Republicans – as is historically the case for the president’s party.
But they have a big problem. The head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, and his team have still not won a high -level democrat challenger against the famous formidable collins.
“I hope very that we will have the strongest possible candidate for Maine,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who heads the Democrats of the Senate campaign, told CNN. “I am optimistic about Maine.”
Behind the scenes, the Democratic leaders began their awareness among key candidates.
Schumer personally talked about the race with Mills, the 77 -year -old governor who recently Faced with Trump On questions such as transgender athletes this year, according to two sources knowing conversations. Mills, according to these sources, was not engaged in the race and publicly minimized the idea that it could try to take Collins.
Another democrat that the party considers a formidable challenger for Collins: Golden, a 42 -year -old centrist who urged his party to be Less elitist And more open to Trump.
But there is a catch. Many Democrats do not believe that Golden would present themselves against Collins in principle, because it is its former boss – a very unusual position in Hyperpartisan Washington. Golden has once worked as a member of the staff of the DC de Collins office and retains close links with the senator. (In the last Collins race, Golden remained neutral to preserve his personal relationship with the senator.)
Asked to know if he would run against Collins, Golden joked: “Do they run?”
The future of Golden has been closely monitored in Washington for another key reason. His headquarters in the House is one of the main republican objectives Mike Johnson in an extremely narrow battlefield in 2026. And in Washington, no one knows exactly which office he will seek in 2026 – Chamber, Senate or Governor, according to half a dozen sources involved in the Congress countryside.
“According to the press, I introduce myself for everyone,” said Golden in an interview, questioned on his way in 2026. He would not reveal his preference and said that the decision was “not in mind” because he focuses on his work in the house. “I am on my own chronology,” he told CNN.
The Democrats already follow another candidate in the race: Jordan Wood, who was previously chief of staff of the former representative Katie Porter. But if Wood – a novice candidate who qualifies as a “defender of democracy” – could run aside in Toe with Collins is not clear.
Asked about the possible candidates, Gillibrand refused to develop, saying to CNN: “I’m not going to tell you. We are talking to many people.”
But the complicated relationship of Collins with Trump adds another torsion to the race – especially if the president continues to attack him, which could help him use the self -employed but to deactivate the voters aligned by Maga in Maine.
Collins voted to condemn Trump during his second dismissal trial after the attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021 and has long refused to say for which she voted in the 2020 elections – while writing to Nikki Haley in the elections and publicly announcing that she would not support Trump in 2016. This year, she voted against her part of her part Nominated, including the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the director of the FBI Kash Patel.
But she voted to help advance her party’s agenda over the years and some of Trump’s most controversial choices, whether to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Ministry of Health and Social Services. And now in the Senate led by 53-47 GOP, Collins remains one of the rare swing votes – including on Trump “Big, nice bill” This should include deep cuts to a range of federal programs.
Asked that Trump more difficult would make his race, Collins underlined his own brand in the state.
“I always run on my own album, and that’s what I’m going to do this time,” Collins told CNN.
Like Collins, whatever the Golden decides could determine the fate of its ultra-competitive house seat.
With the decision of Golden, unclear, a high -level republican candidate – the former governor of Maine Paul Lepage – jumped in the race for the sprawling district of the Northern of Maine last week.
The 76 -year -old former governor is a lightning rod in Maine’s policy. And he is now looking for a return after his defeat against Mills for the governor in 2022.
Despite some of the controversial previous statements of Lepage on Trump, national republicans believe that its ID of high name and its capacity to collect funds will help them lock a seat that has escaped them during the last four cycles.
“We are going to take Maine-02, whether Jared Golden takes place or not,” said representative Richard Hudson, GOP campaign chief. “We got closer the last time. The district went to pick up Trump. This is our district. ”
When asked if he would feel better if Golden was not running, Hudson said: “Of course. The open seat is always easier.”
The Democrats of the Chamber are impatient to keep Golden in their room in a mid-term cycle in which each seat is important to determine which party has the hammer in January 2027.
Representative Brad Schneider, a senior democrat in Illinois involved in house races, said the party would always try to hold Golden’s seat if he decided not to run.
“No one is irreplaceable. People retire, people are advancing,” Schneider told CNN. But he offered this advice to his Democratic colleague: “If he asked for my opinion, I want to continue working with Jared.”
Ted Barrett, Casey Riddle and Alison de CNN contributed to this report.