Susan Collins Just Got A New Democratic Challenger

A 40-year-old oyster farmer and U.S. Army veteran is hoping to unseat five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) next year: “She pretends to be a moderate."

A Marine Corps and U.S. Army veteran who was deployed in the Middle East announced his campaign for Senate in Maine on Tuesday, seeking to oust longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who is eyeing her sixth term in Washington, D.C.

Graham Platner is a 40-year-old oyster farmer from Sullivan, Maine, who believes working-class people in the state are suffering at the hands of big corporations and politicians in D.C. He points his finger at 72-year-old Collins and what he sees as her failure to stand up to President Donald Trump and his legislative agenda.

“Nobody can tell me Collins doesn’t know how to use power,” the Democratic candidate said in an interview with HuffPost. “She’s very well-versed in the mechanisms of the Senate. She chose not to use that power to hold up the bill that was going to destroy Medicaid for so many Mainers. I’m not fooled by that.”

Collins voted against Trump’s massive bill cutting Medicaid and taxes on the wealthy — but her earlier vote to advance the measure was critical in clearing its path to passage. As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the senator has also watched Trump’s White House withhold hundreds of millions of dollars from federal programs that have bipartisan support.

“I think she has worked this complicated charade,” Platner added. “She pretends to be a moderate to appeal across the spectrum, while very often voting along with Republicans.”