Susan Collins

I think it’s a great sign that Elon Musk is planning to spend $100 million to reelect Susan Collins and other Republican candidates. It’s a great sign of exactly what people get when they vote for people like Collins. A veneer of public service, wrapped in decades of performative concern, purchased by the richest people in the richest industries. She funded them with tax cut after tax cut delivered off the back of our lagging wages, and now the windfall is returning to her campaign coffers.

I see what that money bought: A hollowed-out middle class; rural schools, hospitals and nursing homes closing; jobs declining; cost of living rising; and dreams of college and home ownership slipping out of reach for the next generation. And I see how the richest guy in our state, and the richest guy in the world, are super-funding Susan.

This is the job she was paid to do, funneling wealth and resources to the top. And she delivered. And became a millionaire herself while she was at it.

Susan Collins needs to convince regular Mainers that she works for us, and all those campaign ads aren’t going to pay for themselves. I’m sure Elon thinks that Mainers will be excited to have an eccentric celebrity like himself buying us a senator. But me personally, I just don’t believe that these donor-class asset-strippers have Maine’s best interests in mind. They just see something else they want to own. And I’d rather have someone representing Maine who isn’t bought and paid for.