Former West Virginia senator Joe Manchin will spend Wednesday campaigning with Maine Republican Susan Collins, rejecting Democratic claims that she is President Donald Trump's senator.
Manchin plans to spend the day with Collins in Maine this week as she fights for a sixth Senate term next month, Just The News reported.
The stop follows his endorsement of Collins last month and puts a former centrist Democrat on the trail for a Republican locked in one of the cycle's most competitive races against former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson.
Manchin left the Democratic Party in 2024. He had already backed Collins once before, in 2020. Now he is returning to Maine to make the case in person.
Last month, Manchin endorsed Collins and labeled her the "soul of the Senate." He praised her as someone "who wants to do the right thing all of the time."
He also pushed back on Jackson and other Democrats who cast Collins as an extension of the Trump White House. Manchin rejected that line outright.
"She's not Donald Trump's senator. She's not the Republican senator. She's Maine's senator."
Speaking to the New York Times about the planned appearance, Manchin said he had "never" worked with a "more centrist, independent-minded person."
That framing matters in a state that rewards ticket-splitters. Collins has long sold herself as a Maine-first vote rather than a national party messenger, and Manchin is amplifying that message at the close of the race.
Collins has opposed some of the Trump administration's biggest accomplishments. She voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill last year and against War Secretary Pete Hegseth's confirmation.
Those breaks are part of the record Democrats are trying to erase when they brand her as "Donald Trump's senator." Manchin's rebuttal puts the contradiction in plain view: the same lawmaker they tie to Trump has blocked key pieces of his agenda.
Senate control remains central to how much of that agenda advances after the midterms, a point underscored in coverage of how Republicans lead or tie key Senate races in recent survey data.
Collins's race sits inside that larger fight. A sixth term would extend a career defined by narrow margins and constant pressure from both parties.
Manchin's journey tracks a broader realignment. He spent years as a Democratic holdout, then walked away from the party in 2024. Campaigning for a Republican this close to Election Day is another step away from the coalition he left.
GOP candidates themselves still sort out how closely to align with Trump, a split examined in reporting on how Republican hopefuls diverge over Trump in pivotal races.
Collins occupies the other side of that tension. She has bucked the White House on signature items while still seeking another term as a Republican in a brutal map.
High-profile Democrats have also recalibrated under pressure. Fetterman admitted Democrats were wrong to chase an end to the Senate filibuster, another sign that old party orthodoxy is cracking in public.
Manchin's Maine trip fits the same season of movement. A former Democratic senator is spending a full day boosting a Republican incumbent Democrats want to paint as a Trump proxy, even as her own roll-call record undercuts the charge.
House Democratic leadership, for its part, continues to preview confrontation if it regains power, including talk that Jeffries is keeping impeachment on the table in a future majority.
Against that backdrop, Collins's race is not a sideshow. It is a test of whether voters still reward the independent brand Manchin is selling, and whether Democratic attacks that ignore her breaks with Trump will stick.
Manchin will make that pitch beside her on Wednesday. Maine gets the closing argument in person.
When even a former Democrat has to remind the left that a senator can serve her state before either party, the old loyalty tests have already failed.
