Susan Collins: 30 years in Senate
Susan Collins has served in the Senate for nearly 30 years and has been elected five times, yet Platner argues Maine has deteriorated on her watch.
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Can Graham Platner survive another controversy? | NPR’s Newsmakers
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Jun 1, 2026
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Building a Movement to Beat Susan Collins
At 18:52 · chapter starts 16:20
Fadel raises a concern she heard directly from voters: they've been burned by outsider politicians before who went to Washington and got absorbed by the machine. Platner's answer is structural: he doesn't believe in elected leaders, only elected representatives, and the way to hold those representatives accountable is to build broad coalitions of labor and community organizations that remain active after the election is won. The coalition, he argues, is the failsafe — it keeps pressure on him as much as on anyone else. He lists the agenda items he sees beyond winning Collins's seat: getting money out of politics, term limits, pulling war powers back to Congress, universal healthcare, universal childcare. He is clear that no single senator can deliver any of that — it will require tens of thousands of Mainers and millions of Americans organized from the ground up.
Susan Collins: 30 Years, Everything Got Harder
Susan Collins has been in the Senate for 30 years, chairs Appropriations, and claims to bring immense power to Maine. So why is housing unaffordable for young people? Why is rural healthcare collapsing? Platner says her tenure IS the problem.
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