Senate Debates in Maine and Alaska Turn Personal as the Iran War Shadows Both Races

Two of the closest Senate races in the country produced two heated debates on Thursday night, October 15. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson told Republican Senator Susan Collins to shut up on live television. In Alaska, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola traded charges of lying. Both races could decide Senate control after Election Day on November 3.

A protester, then a sharp exchange in Maine

The fourth and final Maine debate, at the Gracie Theatre in Bangor, stopped early on when a protester shouted at Collins about data centers, CNN and The Associated Press reported. As moderators removed the protester, Collins said the person was obviously one of Jackson's supporters. Jackson answered, "Oh, shut up," and said he did not know the person. The Maine Republican Party called the remark unacceptable after the debate. Jackson's campaign declined to comment, AP reported.

They clashed all night over the national debt, partisanship and Collins and her ties to President Donald Trump, AP reported. CNN reported that Collins pressed Jackson for missing his own deadline to share his campaign finance report with her. Jackson said processing donations from 200,000 people took longer than expected. He says Collins is swayed by her donors and takes no corporate PAC money himself. Collins pointed to joint ads his campaign runs with the Democratic Senate campaign arm, which does take corporate money. Asked when she last defied her party, Collins cited her push to organize Republican votes against Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. Hegseth was confirmed anyway, AP reported.

On the Iran war, Collins said Congress should have been consulted before Trump went to war. She added that the War Powers Resolution gave the president room to act alone in the first 60 days, which she said is why she began voting to rein in his war powers only after that period, CNN reported.

Character and war costs in Alaska

In Alaska, Sullivan raised a September report in The New York Times that alleged Peltola mistreated staff. He said the story drew on nine former staff members and at least 20 other people, and called her treatment of young Alaskans a character flaw, CNN reported. Peltola called the allegations gossip and unfounded. She said the story covered her worst days, not the whole record, and that she had struggled with grief after her mother and her husband died in 2023. Sullivan also accused her of voting against military pay over access to transgender medical care. Peltola called that absurd and said her vote turned on language that would have blocked care for soldiers stationed in states that restrict reproductive health care. She said she voted yes on the defense bill three other times, in the account carried by Fox News.

The Iran war hung over this debate too. Sullivan said the war needs to end soon, and argued that producing more energy in Alaska is the best way to cut its high fuel costs. He repeated his opposition to Trump's plan to buy Russian diesel. Peltola blamed Washington politicians for long wars that push costs up, and said she has long backed drilling in Alaska, CNN reported.

What is at stake

Collins is a moderate Republican running in a state that leans Democratic. Sullivan runs in a state that leans Republican, against a former congresswoman well known across Alaska. With the Senate majority in play, both parties are spending heavily, and Thursday's tone showed how tight the races are with less than three weeks left before voters decide on November 3.