Everyone Booed Susan Collins at Her Little Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Since the Maine senator hasn't held a town hall in over two decades, angry demonstrators drowned out the event with "boos" and cries of "shame!"

By Kady Ruth Ashcraft | August 27, 2025 | 1:47pm

Photo: Getty Images News Politics

Everyone Booed Susan Collins at Her Little Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

On Tuesday morning in Searsport, Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins woke up and decided to do something she very, very rarely does: hold a public press event in her state. The event was in celebration of the completion of two years of construction and renovation on the town’s Main Street—though very few people were feeling celebratory. Over 200 protesters showed up to the ribbon-cutting ceremony to express their dismay at the senator, her voting record, and the Trump administration at large. To be fair, it might not have been such a heavy turnout had Collins held even one single town hall since first being elected senator in 1996.

“I think it’s rich that Susan Collins would be within a stone’s throw of a supermarket while a dozen children starved to death last night,” protestor and military veteran Daniel Beaton told Bangor Daily News, referencing the senator’s votes supporting Israeli military aid, which subsequently funds the continued genocide in Gaza. “Susan Collins made it possible for 1/3 of Mainers to lose Medicare,” another protestor, Belfast resident Rachel Herbener, explained to Wabi 5 News. “Hospitals are closing. She had the opportunity to stop this bill, and she did not.” Shockingly, Collins voted against Trump’s Big, Beautiful bill. But protesters also reportedly called her out on her Supreme Court nominee votes—she was the only Republican to vote against Amy Coney Barrett, but her vote sealed the deal for Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

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“We’re fighting fascism, and Susan Collins, the Republican Party, they have sold out the working class completely,” Herbener added.

As the crowd repeatedly yelled, “Shame! Shame! Shame!” Collins weakly attempted to gain control over the room. At one point, she asked them to please listen, only for one protestor to respond, “You don’t ever listen to us!” Later on Tuesday, according to Bangor Daily News, the senator told reporters, “Demonstrators seem to be part of the political world nowadays. I talked with many of the demonstrators afterwards and tried to answer their questions. It was interesting to see how much misinformation that they had.”

Aside from being simply condescending, Collins’ surprise at protesters in “the political world nowadays” is probably genuine. She has not held or attended a town hall since her first term as senator—over two decades ago, according to the Portland Press Herald. For some context, that means she hasn’t met with her constituents since before the iPhone was invented, before my teenage ass was protesting the Iraq War, and before Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” was the number one hit single.

Collins has said she prefers private one-on-one meetings with constituents. She told the Portland Press Herald in 2017 that at large town hall events, “the level of civility is not that high.” Considering that Collins called the Bangor police over a chalk drawing in support of abortion rights on the sidewalk in front of her house in 2022, I have a hunch that it’s actually Collins’ tolerance for voicing dissenting opinions that’s “not that high.”

For constituents fed up with Collins’ pathetic hide-and-seek game and her generally disappointing schtick of “standing up to Trump,” a compelling challenger has appeared to unseat her. Graham Platner, a Maine oyster farmer and former combat veteran, whose platform upholds populist values like overturning Citizens United, defending Medicare and Medicaid, fighting union-busting, and ending mass deportations, is quickly gaining attention and excitement for his senatorial campaign. If I were advising Platner, I’d add “having more than one town hall in twenty years” to the platform, and he’d already be surpassing Mainers’ expectations.

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