{"id":223,"date":"2026-05-14T21:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=223"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:35:39","slug":"jd-vance-praises-sen-susan-collins-a-gop-moderate-and-occasional-trump-foe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=223","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance praises Sen. Susan Collins, a GOP moderate and occasional Trump foe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The warm words came at a Maine rally as the vice president touted Republican House candidate Paul LePage and highlighted anti-fraud efforts.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Juan Soto returns to lineup for Mets, who also get a positive progress report on Francisco Lindor<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Vice President JD Vance in Bangor, Maine, on Thursday. (Tierney L. Cross\/Pool\/New York Times\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

BANGOR, Maine \u2014 Vice President JD Vance traveled to this key battleground for control of Congress on Thursday to energize Republican voters by promoting his administration\u2019s anti-fraud efforts.<\/p>\n

He was stumping for the state\u2019s former governor Paul LePage (R), now running for Congress in a House district seen as one of the GOP\u2019s best opportunities to flip a Democratic-held seat<\/a>. But the state\u2019s most prominent Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, was notably absent as Vance offered measured praise for the moderate who, at times, has crossed President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Vance appeared before a crowd of hundreds at an airport hangar in central Maine with a few dozen protesters gathered across the street. Dozens of people lined up behind him, holding blue-and-white signs that read, \u201cProtect taxpayer dollars.\u201d During his hour-long remarks, Vance largely stuck to talking points known to energize the MAGA base, focusing on the administration\u2019s work to investigate suspected fraud within social safety net programs and ensure undocumented immigrants are not illegally benefiting.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/i>Let\u2019s send Paul LePage to Washington to help us fight the fraudsters,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n

LePage, a two-term governor with a history of racially incendiary rhetoric<\/a>, spoke before Vance at the rally and joined the crowd to watch the vice president\u2019s remarks. LePage has embraced Trump in his political comeback bid and has previously called himself \u201cDonald Trump before Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance conceded that he could \u201cget frustrated\u201d with Collins, who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 and against his sweeping domestic policy bill<\/a> last year. But Vance framed Collins\u2019s moderate reputation as a positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine,\u201d Vance said. \u201cSo let\u2019s give a shout-out to Susan Collins, who\u2019s doing a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Collins said the senator could not attend Vance\u2019s event in Maine because she needed to be in Washington for Senate votes. (Collins has not missed a roll-call vote since 1997, when she became a U.S. senator, according to GovTrack, which logs the voting records of congressional lawmakers.)<\/p>\n

Collins faces a tough reelection battle against oyster farmer Graham Platner, a fiery populist candidate expected to win the Democratic nomination after his chief rival, Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out of the race last month. Collins\u2019s supporters hope that a trail of controversies following Platner and her bipartisan reputation can help her hold office in a state that consistently goes blue in presidential races.<\/p>\n

Soon after the rally, Platner posted video clips of Vance praising Collins.<\/p>\n

As he waited to get inside the hangar, Luc Allain, an independent voter who lives in nearby Herman, credited Collins for being \u201cresilient\u201d in the face of a difficult election and periodically opposing the administration.<\/p>

Read more Mapping where the redistricting fight stands and where it\u2019s headed<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with all her policies, but at least she\u2019s a person who speaks her mind,\u201d said Allain, a 60-year-old salesman. \u201cYou can\u2019t be all one-sided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arthur Nickerson, a lifelong Republican voter who attended the rally, said he wasn\u2019t bothered by Collins\u2019s absence. He believes her consistent desire to be present in Washington for votes proves her ethics as a senator.<\/p>\n

Nickerson, 57, said he was satisfied after watching Collins appear <\/b><\/i>last month at the state\u2019s GOP convention, where he was a delegate. He sees her as the candidate most fit to do what is best for his state compared with Platner, who has little political experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to lose a senior senator to get somebody that doesn\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As Nickerson spoke, LePage walked past the line of attendees waiting outside the hangar, receiving a smattering of cheers and applause. During his remarks, LePage said he would be committed to targeting fraud and touted his efforts to investigate it when he was governor.<\/p>\n

Vance also took the opportunity Thursday to lambaste Mills and her administration for alleged fraud in Maine. He framed the issue of fraud as a nonpartisan one but said that the Democratic governor seemed unwilling to work with the federal government to combat the issue.<\/p>\n

Trump tapped Vance to lead anti-fraud efforts, and while administration officials have described their work as apolitical, they have targeted states run by Democrats, and Vance frequently invokes it while campaigning for Republican candidates. The anti-fraud mission has been a focus of the vice president while Trump is in China. On Wednesday, Vance announced that the Trump administration had sent letters to all states asserting that they would need to show they are prosecuting Medicaid fraud to keep receiving federal anti-fraud money.<\/p>\n

It was strategic of Vance to center his messaging on fraud and illegal immigration while boosting the GOP\u2019s candidates, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that Trump and the MAGA Republican crowd can\u2019t pass up,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cIt\u2019s too politically useful.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Arkansas reinstates men\u2019s and women\u2019s tennis programs after donors provide short-term funding<\/a><\/p>\n

Liz Goodwin contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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