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Schumer’s ‘number one target’ says voters will see her Democrat Senate challenger as too extreme
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HARRISON, Maine — As she runs for a sixth six-year term in the U.S. Senate in left-leaning Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins is once again a top target for Democrats.
«I have been the number one target of Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, not only in this campaign, but the last two campaigns as well. I’m always his number one target,» Collins told Fox News Digital in an exclusive national interview this week.
And it’s no different this time around, as Collins seeks re-election in a competitive and high-profile 2026 race that is one of a handful across the country that will likely determine if Republicans keep control of their slim Senate majority.
Facing Collins will likely be military veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, the all-but-certain Democratic nominee after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Schumer and the Democratic Party establishment, dropped out of the race last week after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.
SIX MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at a news conference Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Lewiston, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP PHoto)
Platner is supported by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The first-time candidate advocates an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class.
Asked if Platner is too far to the left for voters in her northern New England state, Collins said, «I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But obviously I don’t take anything for granted.»
A Republican group supporting Collins is already blasting Platner in a new ad over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on Reddit about women and rape, and a well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol.
Among the comments is one from 2013, which Platner later deleted, that people concerned about rape should not «get so f—ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.»
The candidate apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after they made headlines last fall soon after he launched his Senate campaign. Platner has said that he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia. He said that he covered up the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol.
Asked if she’ll take aim at Platner over his political baggage, Collins said, «Obviously I’m going to be contrasting my record of achievement and accomplishments with Graham Platner’s approach, which is based in.»
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Sen. Susan Collins of Maine stands for an interview with Fox News Digital in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Collins stopped, before saying, «I don’t want to preview too much of our strategy.»
But the senator added that she’s «hoping that we can have a campaign that is civil, where we discuss issues and accomplishments. That’s my goal.»
Platner, who is running as an outsider, emphasizes that Collins is part of a «broken Washington» and «a generation of politicians who have failed us.»
He has described Collins’ moderate Republican image as a «charade,» highlights her support for some of President Donald Trump’s agenda, and accuses her of being part of a political system that benefits the wealthy. «She and Republican politicians like her have prioritized the interests of billionaires and corporations over people,» he has charged.
Republicans — as the party currently in power in Washington, D.C. — were already up against traditional political headwinds that lead to a loss of congressional seats. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.
Asked how she can overcome the blame pointed at Republicans over the high cost of living, Collins noted she’s championed the low income heating assistance program, which «helps low income families and seniors stay warm during the cold winter months. I just recently made sure the final tranche of money was released because there is a lot of need in the state of Maine, and the cost of living is high here.»
Collins also emphasized her opposition to cuts «in food stamp benefits and in other programs that are designed for low income families, because I know how important they are.»
DEMOCRATS BUILD MIDTERM MOMENTUM BUT REPUBLICANS STILL IN DRIVER’S SEAT IN SENATE MAJORITY BATTLE
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
The senator was interviewed at a food bank that expanded thanks to federal funding which Collins helped obtain.
«It is so satisfying to be here today and to know that I played a very small role, but an essential role, in allowing this food bank to expand its community room, its kitchen, and to help it be even more successful,» she touted. «This food bank is extraordinary. It serves more than 1,000 families every week.»
The Democrats’ narrow path to regain control of the Senate flows through Maine, and Collins will once again face an avalanche of attack ads.
Pointing to Schumer, Collins said, «last time he poured into Maine with his affiliated groups, more than $160 million, all in negative ads trashing me and misrepresenting my record. He’s already doing that now.»
But she added that «fortunately, the people of Maine are smart, and they know lies and distortions when they see it.»
chuck schumer, bernie sanders, republicans elections, elizabeth warren, democrats senate, maine, midterm elections
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As President Donald Trump intensifies his push to eliminate the Senate filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, lawmakers are exposing familiar fault lines over when the chamber’s 60-vote rule should, and shouldn’t, apply.
Democratic senators avoided endorsing an outright elimination of the filibuster. Some defended exceptions for certain legislation, with several arguing it should stay in place while Republicans push to pass the SAVE Act through the Senate.
«I would want to know what specific measure it covered,» Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. «I’m in favor of eliminating the filibuster for specific measures, not across the board.»
TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL CATCHES UNLIKELY BREAK AS MCCONNELL REMAINS SIDELINED
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., weighs in on eliminating the Senate filibuster as Republicans push to pass the SAVE Act. (Eric Lee/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«When we wanted the Voting Rights Act passed, I was willing to do it,» Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash said.
«It depends on constitutional issues,» she said. «If there are people that are overriding the Constitution and not following the Constitution, that would be an area where I would think about [eliminating the filibuster.]»
Democrats previously pushed to create exceptions to the filibuster for legislation including voting rights bills after Republicans repeatedly blocked those measures during President Joe Biden’s administration.
As the SAVE Act stalls in the Senate, Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to pass the election integrity bill.
«I think we have to be really careful,» Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said. «The filibuster is what’s preventing President Trump from his SAVE Act.»
Trump took to Truth Social urging Thune not to allow the Senate to leave for August recess until lawmakers either pass the Save Act terminate the filibuster. He also insisted that Senate Democrats would do it to advance their own legislation if they regained the majority.
WATCH: ELISSA SLOTKIN SAYS SAVE AMERICA ACT WOULD MAKE IT ‘HARD FOR ANY DEMOCRAT’ TO WIN AN ELECTION
Senate Republicans are eyeing a Democratic proposal from years ago to change the Senate’s rules to ram President Donald Trump’s nominees through Senate Democrats’ blockade. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«I think that the Democrats would absolutely eliminate the filibuster,» Sen. Roger Marshall said. «Every Democrat senator that’s here now, that was here when they had the chance, voted to end it.»
Marshall explained that his position switched on this, with him now having newfound support for eliminating the filibuster as he claims the Democratic party has become unwilling to cooperate.
«Democrats don’t want to cooperate,» Marshall said.
He continued, «They want to do everything they can to make life miserable in America, thinking it’s going to help them politically. Always putting their political goals ahead of what’s best for America.»
TRUMP DEMANDS THUNE KEEP SENATE IN SESSION UNTIL SAVE AMERICA ACT PASSES
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., acknowledged the same argument that Thune has defended himself to the president for not passing the SAVE Act: the votes in the upper chamber are not there to remove the filibuster.
«[Trump] knows the votes aren’t there to do what he wants to do, in the way he wants to do it,» Kennedy said. «The House has passed a budget resolution to get reconciliation started. We can pass the SAVE Act with the right… the correctly crafted bill.»
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is working to craft that bill to pass certain elements of the SAVE Act through the budget reconciliation process — dropping the need for Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the bill to get it passed to Trump.
«There comes a time when you got to stop talking and just vote,» Kennedy said.
» I’m ready to vote, and I’m gonna vote yes. And I’ll stay here as long into August or September as I need to for us to get our work done.»
senate elections, democratic party, politics, john thune, republicans
INTERNACIONAL
Alerta en Bolivia por una nueva ola de violencia: sicarios asesinaron a siete personas en dos días
Tres hechos violentos ocurridos entre el miércoles y jueves en el departamento de Santa Cruz, al este de Bolivia, dejaron al menos siete personas muertas y generan alerta por la creciente violencia que provoca el crimen organizado en el país.
El primer caso se produjo el miércoles en la estancia Campo Nuevo, ubicada a unos 10 kilómetros del municipio de San Matías, cerca de la frontera con Brasil. Según el reporte preliminar de la Policía, un grupo de hombres armados interceptó una camioneta y abrió fuego contra sus ocupantes, causando la muerte de cuatro ciudadanos bolivianos.
De acuerdo con los primeros testimonios recogidos por los investigadores, cuatro presuntos sicarios de nacionalidad brasileña participaron en el ataque, que es investigado como un posible ajuste de cuentas.
Vecinos alertaron a las autoridades después de escuchar una intensa balacera. Cuando efectivos del Comando Fronterizo EPI-San Matías llegaron al lugar encontraron a dos personas sin vida y posteriormente se confirmó el fallecimiento de los otras dos debido a la gravedad de sus heridas.
Ese mismo día, la violencia volvió a golpear al departamento de Santa Cruz. Dos cuerpos decapitados fueron hallados la mañana del miércoles en un camino de tierra del municipio de Yapacaní, una zona situada a unos 300 kilómetros de San Matías y considerada un corredor estratégico entre el oriente y el occidente de Bolivia.
Las víctimas, dos hombres identificados como Bismark Gómez, de 25 años y Matías Tapia, de 22 años, fueron encontrados con signos de violencia. Los cuerpos fueron encontrados junto a un mensaje de advertencia cuyo contenido se analiza para determinar el móvil del doble homicidio y la posible participación de organizaciones criminales.
El tercer caso ocurrió en la localidad de Ascensión de la Frontera, también cerca de la frontera con Brasil, donde una balacera dejó dos personas muertes el jueves. De acuerdo con reportes de la prensa local, cuatro personas interceptaron una camioneta, dispararon con armas de grueso calibre e incineraron el vehículo antes de darse a la fuga. Los dos ocupantes murieron en el ataque, uno de ellos el subteniente de la Policía boliviana, Yerson Salazar Aliendres.
Según el comandante policial de Santa Cruz, David Gómez, el agente policial investigaba los asesinatos ocurridos el día antes en San Matías. Tras su ejecución, los atacantes se llevaron el cuerpo del policía sin que hasta ahora se haya logrado recuperarlo.
La Fiscalía y la Policía iniciaron las investigaciones en estos casos y por el momento se tiene un aprehendido por el último crimen. Los tres episodios se producen en un contexto de creciente preocupación por la violencia asociada al narcotráfico y a las disputas entre grupos delictivos que operan en el departamento de Santa Cruz.
San Matías y otros municipios fronterizos con Brasil, han sido escenarios recurrentes de operaciones contra el narcotráfico y de ataques armados atribuidos a organizaciones criminales transnacionales. En tanto, Yapacaní, ubicado entre las ciudades de Santa Cruz de la Sierra y Cochabamba, también ha sido identificado por las autoridades como un punto de tránsito utilizado para el traslado de droga y otras actividades ilícitas.
Los tres ataques dejaron un saldo de siete fallecidos en dos días y mantienen a las fuerzas de seguridad en busca de los responsables y esclarecer si ambos hechos forman parte de una misma dinámica de violencia criminal.
Según un recuento realizado por Infobae en base a reportes de la prensa local, en lo que va del año hubo al menos 23 muertes violentas o ejecutadas por sicarios, la mayoría concentradas en el departamento de Santa Cruz, la región del Trópico de Cochabamba y regiones fronterizas del sur del país.
Entre las víctimas de la ola de violencia de este año figuran el magistrado del Tribunal Agroambiental, Víctor Hugo Claure, asesinado a tiros en mayo en un crimen investigado por un presunto conflicto de tierras, y el caso reciente del subteniente Salazar, quien participaba en las pesquisas de los asesinatos de San Matías ocurridos horas antes.
A diferencia de otros casos atribuidos a ajustes de cuentas entre organizaciones criminales, ambos eran funcionarios del Estado, lo que refleja una expansión de la violencia hacia quienes ejercen funciones de seguridad y administración de justicia y plantea nuevos desafíos para las autoridades en materia de protección institucional, investigación criminal y control del crimen organizado.
camioneta,camino de tierra,zona rural,asalto,arma
Sen Marsha Blackburn slams Jack Smith over alleged text message spying
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., strongly condemns former Special Counsel Jack Smith for allegedly illegally obtaining text messages from 44 members of Congress. Blackburn accuses Smith of breaking the law and abusing power, citing past denials by Smith regarding phone record acquisition. She demands a thorough investigation into the ‘Arctic Frost’ probe, highlighting concerns over privacy and due process.
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EXCLUSIVE: The Senate investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s «Arctic Frost» probe is widening, as Republican lawmakers question Verizon’s handling of subpoenas for senators’ phone records after the telecom giant failed to disclose one during an earlier congressional records search.
As part of Operation Arctic Frost — the codename for the FBI’s Trump-election-interference probe with Smith placed at the helm — prosecutors subpoenaed Verizon and other phone carriers for toll records tied to members of Congress and other Republican figures. Several conservative entities were swept up in the probe, including the late Charlie Kirk.
Verizon later acknowledged omitting Smith’s subpoena from its congressional record search.
The dispute centers less on Verizon’s compliance with the subpoena than on what the company knew afterward, whether it should have notified Congress and why it failed to disclose the subpoena during an earlier records search.
BIDEN SPECIAL COUNSEL’S ‘RUNAWAY TRAIN’ SCOOPED UP SENSITIVE LAWMAKER INFO: ‘ABUSE OF POWER’
The Senate investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s «Arctic Frost» probe is widening. (Getty Images)
Smith’s investigation has faced increased scrutiny in recent months, and now Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa — whose records were among those obtained — and a slew of his colleagues want to know what Verizon knew, when it knew it and whether the company should have notified affected members of Congress after turning over their phone records to Smith’s team.
«Jack Smith oversaw a sweeping and unprecedented investigation that swept-up records from hundreds of Republican entities, including the phone toll records and text messages from myself and dozens of my colleagues,» Grassley told Fox News Digital Friday.
Toll records are essentially the metadata of a telephone call — and exclude the contents of the conversation. They often include the phone numbers involved, date, time, duration and often the operative cell-tower location.
MAJOR PHONE CARRIERS REVEAL JACK SMITH’S SUBPOENAS FOR REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ RECORDS
«Congress deserves to know the full picture of how Smith carried out Arctic Frost so it never happens again.»
«As part of our investigation, we need to fully understand what Verizon knew about Smith’s subpoenas, when they became aware members were impacted and why the company didn’t inform members like they were supposed to,» he said.
In a Thursday letter to Verizon CEO Daniel Schulman, Grassley, Senate Investigations Subcommittee chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and more than a dozen senators said they remain concerned not only by the alleged «abuse of power by federal government actors… but also with Verizon’s disclosures of (m)embers’ phone records pursuant to a May 25, 2023, subpoena (and) its failure to disclose this information to affected Members.»
JACK SMITH THRUST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT AT BLANCHE HEARING OVER EXPOSED SENATORS’ MESSAGES’
In its original October 2023 response to Grassley, Verizon wrote that it often limits retention of legal processes received to a period of four years, and attested it had no records to produce prior to October 2019. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Of the signatories, Sens. Bill Hagerty IV and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., also had their phone toll records or text messages swept up by Smith.
Their inquiry noted he asked Verizon in October 2023 to identify Justice Department or other federal law enforcement requests involving Senate devices used by his staff dating back to 2016.
The senator wrote that the subpoena was not disclosed in Verizon’s initial response, and Grassley said Congress did not learn of it until Verizon acknowledged in 2025 that «human error» had caused its omission.
In its original October 2023 response to Grassley, Verizon wrote that it often limits retention of legal processes received to a period of four years, and attested it had no records to produce prior to October 2019.
«This raises questions as to whether Verizon discovered legal process from DOJ for Senate devices and lines, including the May 2023 Arctic Frost subpoena, in its search from October 1, 2019, to October 27, 2023, for responsive records to Chairman Grassley’s request,» Grassley wrote in his new letter.
Therefore, Grassley and 15 other senators are demanding Verizon brass explain when they first learned Smith’s subpoena sought phone records that included members of Congress and when they discovered it had provided «tolling data» connected to those members and transmitted it to Smith.
Fox News Digital reached out to Verizon for comment.
Grassley’s new letter suggests the October 2023 exchange may be the key to determining whether Verizon merely missed the subpoena or discovered it and failed to disclose it.
«On what date were Daniel Schulman, Vandana Venkatesh, Hans Vestberg, and Craig Silliman first informed about the May 25, 2023, subpoena?» they asked of Verizon’s front office.
The senators also asked that Verizon explain its «human error» revelation in more specificity and produce internal records from May 2023 to October 2025 that discuss whether the company believed it was obligated to notify the implicated members of Congress or the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (SAA).
The «human error» explanation also left unanswered why Smith’s May 25, 2023, «Arctic Frost» subpoena was omitted from Verizon’s review of legal process involving SAA phone lines, even though the company acknowledged that two SAA numbers were included in the subpoena.
In 2025, documents provided to Grassley revealed Verizon complied with Smith while AT&T resisted the requests.
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However, both subpoenas were accompanied by gag orders signed by Obama-appointed District of Columbia federal Judge James Boasberg, a frequent foil of President Donald Trump’s. Boasberg directed Verizon and AT&T not to disclose the subpoenas to lawmakers for a period of one year.
The DOJ has issued subpoenas for lawmakers’ information in the past, but former inspector general Michael Horowitz cautioned against it except in limited circumstances in a report published in 2025, saying that doing so «risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch.»
Grassley’s letter gives Verizon until Aug. 13 to explain when it knew senators’ records were involved, who inside the company was informed and why the May 2023 subpoena did not surface in its earlier response to Congress.
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have branded Smith’s «Arctic Frost» as «worse than Watergate.»
Fox News Digital reached out to counsel for Smith for comment.
senate elections, verizon, justice department, congress, chuck grassley, joe biden, donald trump, republicans
WATCH: Democrats admit when they’d eliminate the filibuster as SAVE Act fight heats up
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