With six weeks to go until Election Day, the two candidates in the Maine Senate race remain neck and neck.
Graham Platner's substitute candidate, former state senate president Troy Jackson, has been desperately touting endorsements from the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in hopes of shoring up the Democrat vote that became fractured after the scandal-plagued Platner dropped out of the race in a cloud of disgrace in early July.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), meanwhile, has been busy touting her near-30-year Senate record and what she's done for Mainers, all while taking the "just making observations" approach in response to media inquiries as to her thoughts on Jackson's longtime partner being his second cousin and whether she thinks such things are "fair game."
Undoubtedly, Democrats wanted Jackson to be leading by comfortable margins at this point in the race, because Maine is a purple-to-blue state, and it's a midterm election cycle where, historically, the president's party doesn't often fare well. But the fact that Jackson hasn't been able to pull ahead enrages them. As a result, hit pieces like this get thrown against the wall on the Democrats' behalf in an effort to break through:
New: In late 2024, FBI investigators had enough evidence to launch a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins. Then Trump was reelected and eviscerated the FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption probes. https://t.co/oCahGd4lgY
— ProPublica (@propublica) September 22, 2026
The Usual Suspects, of course, have pounced and seized, with Jackson tweeting that "Susan Collins doesn’t care that we’re losing our health care, that ICE is killing people on the streets, and that we’ve been dragged into a pointless war — as long as her donors get their contracts and her coffers get filled."
Except Annie Clark, who is Collins' Deputy Chief of Staff, fired back in response on X with Collins' side of the story:
The seven-year-old allegations made against Senator Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false. There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation.
ProPublica took the word of someone who pled guilty to five counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and making false submissions to the FEC. As Martin Kao was awaiting sentencing, he began making outlandish charges about the Collins office, deflecting blame from himself and placing it on Senator Collins, including alleging that our office required contributions before taking meetings and engaged in extortion, pay for play, and bribery. The FBI and the Court obviously did not believe Kao, and in 2025 he was sentenced in two separate cases to prison terms of seven years and three years to be served concurrently, as well as an additional five years of supervised release at the end of his prison term.
It is important to note that during the Biden Administration the FBI and the Department of Justice thoroughly investigated the Navatek matter. The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings. In response to the allegations in the ProPublica piece, the FBI clearly stated that a suggestion of wrongdoing by Senator Collins or her staff is “totally false.”
These issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.
She also responded directly to an email inquiry made by ProPublica:
Collins’ campaign was not part of the discussions between Kao and the super PAC, and her office “fully cooperated” with the FBI investigation, Clark said.
“The fact that the FBI and Biden-led Department of Justice thoroughly examined the Navatek matter demonstrates this,” Clark wrote. “These issues were resolved in 2021 and concluded when the Collins campaign disgorged the illegal contributions that Martin Kao had made without our knowledge.”
Former Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Commissioner Sean Cooksey also pushed back:
I know a little something about this case because I was an @FEC Commissioner when we investigated Navatek and its leadership for criminal-level campaign-finance violations. This slanted story reeks of self-serving lies from a convicted felon.
At no time did the FEC have any evidence that 1820 PAC or Senator Collins' campaign knew or did anything wrong. We dismissed or took no action on every potential violation against the PAC, and pursued significant civil penalties against the company. Those are the facts. Any suggestion otherwise is hackery.
I know a little something about this case because I was an @FEC Commissioner when we investigated Navatek and its leadership for criminal-level campaign-finance violations. This slanted story reeks of self-serving lies from a convicted felon.
— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) September 22, 2026
At no time did the FEC have any… https://t.co/dTeYMWdKb7
Lastly, whenever discussions of ProPublica's "investigative reporting" are involved, remember this:
1) ProPublica is a left-wing propaganda operation.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 22, 2026
2) The left-wing activist Kevin Gounaud who initiated the Susan Collins investigation is the same guy who famously tried to investigate Elon last year for DOGE work.
3) He was fired last year. https://t.co/Ybt5E2BqUo
If Democrats are resorting to ProPublica to run last-ditch hits against Susan Collins in #MESEN, they are even more desperate than I thought
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) September 22, 2026
ProPublica is a pure DNC dumping ground for stories that others reject -- and its conflicts of interest in its reporting in the past are… https://t.co/TjQZBN04ek pic.twitter.com/FWYiiRQWdK
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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