‘Lady, Please Retire Already’: Susan Collins Faces Fresh Retirement Calls After Troy Jackson Grills Her on Iran War Funding

It took about ninety seconds of a Senate debate for Maine’s Iran argument to become the whole race. Susan Collins laid out her endgame for the war — an Iranian agreement to stop enriching uranium for a nuclear weapon. Troy Jackson’s reply, clipped and posted to X, did the rest.

“I think we did have an agreement before Donald Trump tore it up and decided to go to war.”

The exchange, from the Maine Senate debate and shared widely after an October 13 post, put Collins — the Republican incumbent and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee — on defense over a war most of Washington would rather talk around. Jackson’s core charge: Congress controls the money, and Collins won’t use it. “The way to block it now would be to shut off funding… But she’s not willing to because she will not stand up against Donald Trump.”

The chair who won’t pull the lever

Collins has repeatedly criticized Trump’s handling of the war and points to her votes against continuing military operations. She argued Congress should have been consulted before the war began and defended her votes to halt the conflict after the initial 60-day window under the War Powers Act. Her broader defense of her Trump-era record: “I support him when I think he’s right. I don’t when I think he’s wrong.”

Jackson’s campaign has a blunter read, telling Fox News Digital that “Mainers are ready to retire her” after votes with Trump on healthcare, tariffs, and what it calls enabling a war in Iran that is raising energy costs. Collins disputes the 96%-with-Trump figure her challenger cites, saying a fuller study puts it at 72%.

The debate had other flashpoints — Collins pressed Jackson on billionaire donations after he pledged to reject them, and he conceded the point: “As far as the billionaires that I might have on my campaign, that is accurate.” But Iran is the issue neither campaign can put down. Jackson ties it to fuel prices hammering Maine’s fishing and logging industries; Collins ties her position to congressional war powers.

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She’s the only Republican senator seeking re-election in a state Trump lost in 2024 — and the last Democrat who was supposed to beat her, Sara Gideon, lost by nearly nine points. The clip drew a fresh wave of “retire already” replies on X, and a fresh round of the argument Maine has been having about Collins for a decade.

Viewers couldn’t agree: a senator using every lever she has, or a committee chair who won’t pull the one lever that matters?