https://www.vox.com/politics/487494/graham-platner-janet-mills-suspends-campaign-maine

Susan Collins:

«She’s the chair of the Appropriations Committee. In olden times, that was like a guaranteed lock on winning reelection. It is not as powerful as it used to be, but I do think it’s meaningful in a state like Maine that relies a lot on federal money — and she has just absolutely opened the spigots in the past year.

You can go on her website and you can see all the money and all the projects she’s funded, and there’s these little pins on the state of Maine, covering the entire map. When this money falls from the sky, it’s a huge boon.

And a word of caution on the polling. In 2020, polls all had Collins down heading into election day. She had been outspent by her Democratic opponent two to one. And then she ended up winning by 9 percentage points. So it looks very anti-Collins out there — but I think behind the scenes, she has a lot more support than is obvious.»