The White House is frustrated with Susan Collins. She might be the GOP's best option.
That has left national Democrats without a top recruit in what should be one of their most competitive offensive targets. Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited, would be their top recruit. But Mills, 77, is older than Collins, 72, and the two women have generally had a good working relationship. The Democratic governor doesn't seem eager for what would likely be a bruising Senate battle.
Even as some Republicans in Washington grow frustrated with Collins, there is no appetite to primary her back home.
'I don't think any reasonable person that might be interested in that position would think about challenging her,' said Maine GOP strategist Alex Titcomb.
Collins has already publicly indicated plans to run for reelection. Her fundraising surged in the second quarter of the year, according to campaign finance reports filed this week. And a super PAC planning to back her said it raised $5.6 million so far this year. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is already cutting digital ads for Collins .
Democrats' best hope to flip the seat would be if Collins did not seek reelection. Republicans would have to scramble in their attempts to find a replacement — she is the only GOP candidate to win statewide in Maine since 2014.
'Everybody knows that Susan Collins is a gift to the Republican Party in Maine,' said Garrett Mason, the former Maine Senate majority leader and GOP gubernatorial candidate.
Collins has ruffled some GOP feathers in the first six months of Trump's term with high-profile votes to oppose his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the sprawling 'One Big Beautiful Bill.'
A similar dynamic played out during Trump's first term in office, when conservatives slammed her vote against the Affordable Care Act repeal . But Collins largely rallied the Republican base in her favor for her 2020 reelection campaign, even earning an endorsement from former Gov. Paul LePage, who had previously been critical of her .
But Republicans in the state know that when it comes to Maine's Senate seat, there is no 'better option.' A Collins retirement — or primary loss — likely means the GOP loses the seat. And many in the state still pride themselves on her senior status in the Senate, something even another Republican could not immediately replicate.
'If someone were able to run against her and by chance beat her, that would be a really bad thing for Maine,' said Mason, the former majority leader. 'But I just don't see that happening. That's not what's on the ground here.'
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