Democrats have been trying to nail Collins on corruption for years. Will this time be different?

As U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has repeatedly defied odds to hold onto her seat by touting her ability to bring in federal money to Maine, Democrats have tried to target that defense by leveling corruption accusations, so far to no avail.

Now, they see new reporting alleging the incumbent Republican’s involvement in a pay-for-play scheme as a turning point that could upend the nationally relevant race six weeks out from the election. 

“It appears that she has sold us out yet again and gotten bailed out of trouble by the president of the United States,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said at a press conference outside Collins’ Portland office on Wednesday. “It is not the first time that she has betrayed us. However, this November we have the opportunity to ensure that it is one of the last.”

The FBI anti-corruption squad was circling Susan Collins — until Trump got in the way

Collins’ office and FBI officials denied that the senator, who became chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2025, was involved in any such scheme. Doubling down after the press conference Wednesday, Collins’ longtime Chief of Staff Steve Abbott called the allegations “not only false, I would say outrageous.” 

“We hear this every cycle that Susan Collins is corrupt,” Abbott said. “It’s the same thing over and over and over again. It’s their effort to discredit the work that she does on behalf of the people of Maine.”

This is far from a new tension. Questions about Collins’ ties to the donor at the center of the latest accusations were initially raised during her last re-election bid in 2020, but more has been brought to light in an in-depth investigation published by ProPublica on Tuesday. 

One of Collins’ top donors, Martin Kao, the former CEO of defense contractor Navatek, pleaded guilty in 2022 to illegal campaign contributions involving a pro-Collins super PAC. According to ProPublica, Kao said Collins’ team was aware of the scheme in which he made donations with the understanding that she would award contracts to his company.

ProPublica reported that as recently as 2024 the FBI sought to launch an investigation examining interactions between Collins and Kao, but after Donald Trump returned to office for a second term, the investigation died as part of his purge of the bureau. 

“At a very minimum, Senator Collins and every other elected official had an obligation to speak out, if not outright block the termination and the dismantling of this public integrity unit,” said Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “It also happens to mean that in this situation, we may never truly find out what is at the heart of these allegations because they will not get a chance to be vetted.”

The New York Times spoke with current and formal officials who confirmed that the inquiry was closed last year, because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of Kao’s account. ProPublica’s report centers on previously undisclosed FBI interviews with Kao, who is serving a little over seven years in prison as the result of multiple convictions, but the investigative outlet said they independently corroborated much of Kao’s account, including through emailed communications and a cashed check.

Abbott denied several specific accusations in the story, including that the campaign required contributions for meetings and Kao’s claim that Collins told him, “You’ve seen me deliver.” 

“None of that happened,” Abbott said. “That’s totally fiction from a guy who was facing sentencing for two federal convictions.”  

During the Democrats’ press conference Wednesday, they took the opportunity to highlight other accusations of corruption, including familiar criticisms of her husband’s lobbying work. 

When introducing his “corruption crackdown” agenda at the same location back in June, former Democratic nominee for Senate Graham Platner revived talking points also used by Collins’ 2020 challenger, Sara Gideon, alleging she used her office to benefit her husband’s former lobbying and consulting firm. They both centered the accusation in ads. While the firm could have been affected by legislation Collins worked on, there is no direct evidence showing Collins acted specifically to benefit her husband’s business. 

That accusation did not dent the senator’s campaign last cycle, when she defied polling and outsized spending to maintain her seat. Now, Collins is the one with massive funding behind her as Republicans hope to defy political headwinds in the midterms. 

Murphy-Anderson said the party’s volunteers are focused on speaking with voters about many ways “Collins has betrayed us here in Maine,” noting that the campaign had its largest organizing weekend yet last weekend, knocking 14,000 doors. 

“We will add this to the very long list,” she said of the ProPublica reporting.