Collins Commits to Four Maine Senate Debates as Jackson Holds Out Over Format

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has agreed to participate in four televised debates this fall, setting up an early test for Democratic challenger Troy Jackson as Maine’s closely watched U.S. Senate race moves toward Election Day.

Collins announced Thursday that she has accepted invitations to four debates across the state, including one that could take place as early as the week of Sept. 7.

Jackson has said publicly that he is willing to debate Collins, but his campaign has not yet agreed to the specific four-event schedule proposed by the Republican incumbent.

The first proposed debate would be jointly hosted by News Center Maine, Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald.

Additional debates would be hosted by WGME and WMTW, with a fourth event jointly hosted by WABI and WAGM, potentially giving voters across the state multiple opportunities to see the candidates appear together before Election Day.

Collins’ campaign said beginning the debates early is particularly important because early voting begins Oct. 5.

“Mainers deserve to see both candidates answer the same questions, in the same room, more than once, and as soon as possible,” Collins campaign spokesman Shawn Roderick said.

Jackson has indicated he is not opposed to debating Collins. He recently said he would debate her “tomorrow.”

The disagreement, however, appears to center on format.

Jackson spokesman Dan Gottlieb said the former Maine Senate president prefers town hall-style debates that allow ordinary Maine residents to directly question the candidates.

That leaves the campaigns negotiating not necessarily over whether debates will happen, but over where they will be held, who will ask the questions and what format will be used.

The debate negotiations come at a critical point for Jackson, who is attempting to build a statewide general election campaign on an unusually compressed timeline.

Jackson became the Democratic nominee only in late July after Graham Platner, who overwhelmingly won the Democratic primary, withdrew from the race.

Maine Democrats subsequently selected Jackson as their replacement nominee during a party convention in Bangor.

The late change left Jackson roughly three months to build a statewide campaign operation, raise money and introduce himself to voters outside the northern Maine district where he has spent years building his political career.

Collins, meanwhile, is seeking a sixth term after nearly three decades in the U.S. Senate and enters the fall campaign with substantially greater statewide name recognition and an established political organization.

Recent polling suggests the contest could nevertheless be close.

An early August Fox News poll showed Jackson leading Collins 48 percent to 46 percent, a two-point advantage that remained within the survey’s margin of error.

That makes the proposed debates potentially significant for both campaigns.

Jackson has attempted to cast himself as a working-class populist from northern Maine, frequently emphasizing his Allagash roots and his years serving in the Maine Legislature.

Collins is expected to lean heavily on her Senate seniority, record of securing federal funding for Maine and reputation for occasionally breaking with Republican leadership.

Four televised debates would give voters an opportunity to compare those competing messages directly.

They could also force both candidates to address issues likely to dominate Maine’s election season, including affordability, immigration, federal spending, health care, public safety and the direction of the Trump administration.

For now, Collins has put four dates, and four television stages, on the table.

Jackson has said he is ready to debate. So what’s the holdup?

Whether he accepts Collins’ proposed schedule or succeeds in negotiating a town hall-centered alternative could become one of the first political battles of Maine’s unusually short general election campaign.