U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King avoided taking stances on whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump performed better in Tuesday night’s debate, while swing-seat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden did not watch it.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree had the clearest view on Tuesday’s forum that was potentially the one and only debate ahead of the Nov. 5 election between Trump and Harris, who replaced President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket after Biden dropped out in July.
Harris was clearly viewed as better than Biden at putting Trump on the defensive Tuesday. A YouGov poll of roughly 3,300 Americans found 43 percent believe Harris won the debate, 28 percent think Trump won and 30 percent were unsure, a clear switch from Biden’s poor June debate that heightened age and fitness concerns that led him to leave the race. Trump and Harris are virtually tied in national polls on the November race.
Trump repeated false claims about migrants eating pets and how he won the 2020 election as Harris went after him on issues such as restricting abortion, his role in stoking the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol and his rally crowd sizes while dodging many questions on her record.
One of Trump’s allies, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called his performance a “disaster” and “missed opportunity.” Other conservatives argued ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis only fact-checked Trump while letting Harris off the hook.
But Collins, the Maine Republican who has said she will cast a symbolic write-in vote for ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in November’s election while also praising Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, did not take a side on the debate in a Wednesday statement.
“The debate did not do much to inform the American people about either of the candidates’ positions on the important issues facing our country,” said Collins, who voted to convict Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riots but also criticized the New York prosecution in a falsified business records case this year that ended with Trump becoming the first ex-president to become a felon.
A Collins spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about whether she thinks one candidate performed better than the other. Collins otherwise told a reporter in Washington she “was surprised” when Trump falsely claimed Haitian migrants were eating dogs.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was at a veterans’ benefit event Tuesday but “able to catch most of the second half” of the debate, spokesperson Matthew Felling said.
“During that time, he saw what many Maine people saw: he thought it was a pretty clear representation of the two candidates’ worldviews,” Felling said without elaborating on behalf of King, who was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and faces three challengers this fall.
Collins, first elected to the Senate in 1996, is not up for reelection until 2026. Golden, who is seeking a fourth term and faces state Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, in a closely-watched November race in Maine’s 2nd District, did not watch Tuesday’s debate, his office said.
When Biden was still in the race, Golden wrote in July that Trump would win the November election and “I’m OK with that.” Golden, a Marine veteran, said he would not vote for Trump but also later said he would not endorse any candidate while not sharing who will vote for this year.
Theriault, a former NASCAR driver, has repeatedly brought that up in attacking Golden, who voted against Biden policies more than any other House Democrat in 2023 and has repelled past Republican challengers in a rural district Trump carried in 2016 and 2020.
Pingree, Golden’s more liberal colleague representing Maine’s 1st District, said Trump “did not say Ukraine must defeat Russia; he did not say he would veto a national abortion ban if it came to his desk; he did not say he lost the 2020 election; and he did not say he would commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election.”
“Mr. Trump, a twice-impeached convicted felon, was rambling, flustered and focused on nothing but his own past grievances,” Pingree, who is seeking a ninth term this fall, said in a statement. “Kamala Harris was fierce and optimistic, laying out a clear vision for America and her plan to be a champion for the middle class and fight to protect the rights of the American people.”
