Susan Collins

There was no sign of a problem in U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ hotel suite. When a Bangor Daily News photographer was invited in around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, Collins and about 10 family members were watching CNN at Bangor’s Hilton Garden Inn, chatting quietly and checking their phones over Polar seltzers and whoopie pies. The photographer told the five-term Republican she wanted to capture what politicians do on election night away from the crowds, and Collins chuckled. “This is it,” she said. She led the statewide count at the time, by more than 4 points with 30% of votes in. But her campaign had begun to worry about 90 minutes earlier, when results came in from Auburn. The city, the largest one fully counted at that point, went from backing Collins by 8 points in 2020 to backing Democrat Troy Jackson by nearly 5. About an hour after the photographer left, as Portland’s votes erased her lead, Collins called Jackson to concede. “Sen. Collins and I had a hard campaign,” the senator-elect told supporters in Portland. “But to every Mainer who voted for her, you can count on me to be your senator now.” Sen. Susan Collins waves to supporters before giving a speech at her campaign party at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor Tuesday night. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN Collins never came back out to the ballroom, where “Closing Time” by Semisonic was playing by 1 a.m. She lost by about 6 points , becoming the first Maine senator ousted by voters since 1978 after a wave of resentment toward President Donald Trump handed Democrats the Senate . For three decades, Collins defied the gravity that pulled down other Republicans in New England. She won in 2008 as Barack Obama carried Maine, and in 2020 she beat Sara Gideon by nearly 9 points after trailing in every public poll. She steered $1.5 billion in earmarks to Maine over the past five years as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, by her campaign’s count, and never missed a roll-call vote. Collins told The New York Times on Wednesday that she was caught up in “ the Trump tsunami ,” and that voters ignored her breaks with the president, including her vote to convict him in his second impeachment trial. “Anyone who sides with Trump, I’m not going to go with them,” said Kabala Muka, a 26-year-old nurse anesthetist and unenrolled voter who backed Jackson in Gray. In the final stretch, her campaign’s tracking polls swung day to day within the margin of error, showing Collins up, down and tied, according to a person familiar with the polling. Her campaign said the picture at the end was that of a close race. Most of the late public surveys showed Jackson with a lead. On Monday, two buses of staffers and supporters pulled up at a Van Buren bakery on the last day of her bus tour to cheer for Collins, who arrived later in a black car, greeted a handful of locals and left after about 15 minutes. As she and her team headed out, a reporter asked a spokesperson if she could ask Collins questions about what she mad