Augusta, ME – New reporting from the Portland Press Herald this week reveals that last week’s bombshell ProPublica report that Susan Collins may have participated in a pay-to-play scheme is causing Maine swing voters to rethink their support for Susan Collins.

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Portland Press Herald: Some Maine swing voters rethink support for Susan Collins after pay-to-play allegations

By Randy Billings

September 28, 2026

• Allegations that Sen. Susan Collins participated in a pay-to-play scheme may be resonating with the very swing voters Maine’s senior senator needs to win a sixth term in office.

• It’s too soon to say what impact ProPublica’s reporting will have on Maine’s closely watched U.S. Senate race. But several voters who participated in a recent New York Times/Press Herald/Siena poll said the report has nudged them more towards Democrats.

• Last week, Portland resident Tara Wheeler said she was barely leaning toward supporting Democrat Troy Jackson. Wheeler said she was struggling with her decision, because she has personally benefitted from Collins’ ability, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to bring home federal funding.

• But after ProPublica’s explosive report Tuesday about an aborted federal investigation into whether Collins helped to steer defense contracts toward a company in exchange for political donations, Wheeler said her choice is clear.
  

• “I’m very pro-Jackson,” Wheeler, a 44-year-old Democrat, said Monday without hesitation. “I just didn’t expect that from Susan Collins. … That pushed me over the edge like immediately.”

• ProPublica’s report detailed illegal campaign contributions Navatek CEO Martin Kao made during Collins’ 2020 campaign. Kao claimed Collins would not meet with him unless he made a donation. He sent a $150,000 check to a pro-Collins super PAC using a limited liability company, since federal contractors are prohibited from donating to candidates. And Kao claimed Collins helped to steer tens of millions in federal contracts to his company.

• The super PAC, called the 1820 PAC, was controlled by Scott Reed, a friend and former business partner of Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron. Financial disclosures from Collins show Daffron was paid at least $1,000 for consulting work last year at Chesapeake Enterprises.

• This cycle, Reed is chairman of Pine Tree Results, a super PAC spending millions to reelect Collins. […]

• …ProPublica pushed back on that response and defended its reporting, saying its story was based on a trove of records, not just on Kao’s word. And they noted that their reporting focused on a new, broader set of allegations made by Kao after Collins was reelected in 2020. That new investigation was ended when President Donald Trump took office in 2025 for a second term. […]

• The allegations threaten to erode Collins support from swing voters, which were crucial to her 2020 victory. A CNN exit poll showed that roughly 13% of Democrats supported Collins. […]

• But Margaret Daigle, an East Millinocket Democrat, is rethinking her support of Collins. […]

• Daigle, 73, said “it’s annoying” that these allegations have come out so late in the cycle. She said she may not know who she’s voting for until she steps into the booth and closes the curtain.

• “I’m still undecided — this is crazy,” Daigle said. “It’s gonna come right down to the wire.”