Susan Collins Term-Limited by Exactly the Method She Recommended

PORTLAND, Maine — Sen. Susan Collins lost her seat early Wednesday to Democrat Troy Jackson. She was term-limited by the voters of Maine. It is the method she personally recommended.

The recommendation came last month. In a debate lightning round, the candidates were asked whether Congress should have term limits. Jackson said, “Absolutely. I mean, we have them in Maine. They work well.” Collins disagreed. “That’s what you have elections for,” she said.

Maine took the note. Jackson led 53.1 percent to 45.7 percent when the Bangor Daily News and Decision Desk HQ called the race at 1:10 a.m. Collins conceded within hours.

The 1996 position

This was not the senator’s first position on the subject. In October 1996 she debated at Bates College in Lewiston. She was asked whether she backed term limits.

“I do support term limits,” she said, “and I have pledged that if I’m elected, I will only serve two terms.” She added that twelve years was long enough to make a contribution and then come home.

Two terms ended in January 2009. Collins ran again in 2008. She ran again in 2014, 2020 and 2026. Her term-limit plan stayed in the drawer the whole time. On Tuesday the voters found the drawer.

Her campaign this fall made the case for seniority. She chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. She said she had brought home $1.5 billion for 672 projects in five years. “I couldn’t have done that in my early years in the Senate,” she said in debate. That was the argument against leaving after the early years.

The method, as applied

Jackson is a former president of the Maine Senate. He replaced the original Democratic nominee in midsummer and had a little over 100 days. On Tuesday night he reminded supporters that they had put their faith in “a logger from Allagash.” He supports term limits. He has now enforced one.

“Thirty years ago she told Maine twelve was enough,” said Deep Throat Lozenge, this bureau’s most trusted source. “Last month she told Maine to use elections instead. Maine is a polite state. It did both.”

This reporter has covered eleven administrations. Pledges like hers are common. Keeping them is rare. Losing to your own backup plan is new.

It should be said plainly. Collins was not always the senator of the last decade. For years she was the moderate who took the call from a family in trouble. Some families in Maine still remember those calls.

Her statement Wednesday was gracious. “It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate,” she said. She called Jackson to congratulate him and promised a smooth transition.

She was right about one thing. Elections work. It took thirty years and one of them to prove it.