Susan Collins

Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine faced criticism and protests from Democrats on Monday following a fatal shooting linked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Biddeford, Maine.

State House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, of Biddeford, initially said in a statement shared on Facebook that a shooting occurred in the city and that one person was killed, adding that ICE was involved, and Maine State Police and the Department of Public Safety were responding to gather additional details. It’s the second fatal shooting linked to ICE in less than a week.

The shooting could upend Maine’s Senate race, which was already viewed as competitive due to the state’s Democratic lean, though Collins has represented the state for decades. Collins has won reelection in the past due to her bipartisan reputation and personal popularity, but Democrats believe President Donald Trump’s declining national approval rating leaves her in her toughest race yet. The deadly gunfire brings the immigration debate to the doorsteps of the Pine Tree State ahead of the November election.

Read More on Politics

The Maine Senate race was already thrown into chaos earlier this month after sexual assault allegations were made against Democratic candidate Graham Platner. He denied those allegations and has withdrawn as the nominee, giving the party just a few weeks to secure a new candidate to take on Collins in November. Many of those prospective Democratic candidates were critical of Collins after the shooting.

Newsweek reached out to Collins’ team for comment via email.

Susan Collins Under Scrutiny After ICE-Involved Shooting

Collins responded to the shooting in a statement posted to X Monday afternoon: “The shooting in Biddeford requires a full and impartial investigation of what happened. It is my understanding that the Biddeford police have secured the site and that the FBI is investigating.”

The post drew scrutiny from Democratic candidates vying to challenge her in November. “Senator Collins voted for the Republican bill to give ICE another $70 billion to terrorize our communities with no accountability,” Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention who is seeking the nomination, wrote to X.

Jordan Wood, former Senate and congressional candidate who is also running, also criticized Collins on X. “What it requires is for you to have the courage to stop funding this lawless agency that's been terrorizing our streets for over a year. ICE needs to get out of Maine, abolished, and replaced with a new agency that protects and serves the people, not murder them.”

Videos circulated online of large protests outside of Collins’ office in downtown Biddeford. Protesters were seen holding signs that read “Abolish ICE” and “Crush ICE.” Some protesters even entered the entryway of Collins’ office, reported The Portland Press Herald.

Collins had previously raised concerns about ICE operations in Maine.

“Immigrants have long been an important part of our state, and they continue to make valuable contributions to our communities. People who are in this country legally should not be targets of ICE investigations. They should be able to continue to go to work, school, and other public places and carry on with their normal lives. If for some reason an individual who is here legally is improperly detained, they should seek assistance through advocacy networks and the legal system,” she wrote in a January 21 statement.

Still, she said at the time that people who have “entered this country illegally and who have engaged in criminal activity” could be “subject to arrest and deportation pursuant to the laws of the United States, and people who are exercising the right to peacefully gather and protest their government should be careful.”

She has faced prior criticism from Democrats for voting to approve $70 billion for immigration enforcement earlier this year.

Biddeford ICE-Involved Shooting: The Latest

Biddeford, a city about 15 miles south of Portland, was rattled by the ICE-involved shooting on Monday.

Authorities have not released additional information about the circumstances of the shooting, including the identity of the person killed and the nature of ICE’s involvement.

The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine later said in a press release that a 26-year-old Colombian man had died. “Our communities are hurting…” group Executive Director Mufalo Chitam said. “Today, a 26-year-old member of our community is dead following an incident involving ICE. We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable. How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”

The FBI confirmed to Newsweek that agents were on the scene, but said it could provide no further information.

There have been numerous fatal shootings by federal immigration officials since Trump returned to office. Earlier this year, the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis drew widespread outrage toward the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement. Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer, and Pretti by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.

Uncertainty Looms Over High-Stakes Maine Senate Race

Maine’s Senate race has always been forecast to be tight, with Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball classifying it as one of the few pure toss-ups in the 2026 midterm elections. The Platner scandal and an ICE-involved shooting add uncertainty to the race.

The Democratic nominee to face Collins remains uncertain. The Maine Democratic Party announced a statewide convention set for July 25 to select its candidate. The latest poll from Chism Strategies found that 40 percent of Maine Democrats would like to see former Senate President Troy Jackson, who attended a protest in Biddeford on Monday, as the party’s nominee.

Shah followed with 23 percent support, along with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows with 14 percent. Three percent backed Wood, while 19 percent said they would support someone else or that they were not sure. The poll surveyed 884 Mainers on July 9 and July 10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

While polling sheds light on who Mainers want to see as their nominee, it’s less clear how that will translate to support at the convention later in July. The process will involve 601 delegates at the event in Bangor. All 16 Maine counties have a set number of delegates who will vote to select the new U.S. Senate candidate.

Collins’ chances of winning reelection have declined on prediction markets in recent days, as she had a 34 percent chance of winning on Kalshi and a 36 percent chance on Polymarket as of Monday afternoon. That's down from a 38 percent chance on Friday and nearly a 47 percent chance on July 6 in Kalshi's markets.

Prediction markets allow traders to buy and sell contracts tied to political outcomes and current events, aggregating real‑money wagers into probability estimates. Prices fluctuate as traders react to polling, fundraising, candidate developments and broader political trends. They measure trader sentiment at a given moment but do not always accurately predict the future.