Portland, Maine

A Republican super PAC supporting Sen. Susan Collins of Maine mistakenly ran digital ads targeting her Democratic challenger, state Senate President Troy Jackson, in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine. Defending Main Street confirmed its media vendor spent roughly $25,000 on the misplaced ad buy before the error was caught and corrected. The group's ad buyer, working with Cross Screen Media and the 1903 Group, took full responsibility and is refunding the misspent amount, meaning no donor funds will be lost.

The mix-up comes in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Collins is the only Republican senator representing a state carried by Kamala Harris in 2024, making her seat a top Democratic target as the party seeks to flip Republicans' narrow 53-47 Senate majority. While the error itself was minor and quickly fixed, it underscores the intense national attention and spending already surrounding the Maine contest well ahead of the election.

Maine Democrats are demanding that Sen. Susan Collins address a ProPublica report alleging the FBI planned in 2024 to investigate whether she knew about illegal campaign contributions tied to Hawaii defense contractor Navatek. The report says a Collins fundraiser sought a $500,000 donation from Navatek executives in 2019, and CEO Martin Kao funneled $150,000 through a shell company after Collins allegedly committed to securing the company $32 million in Navy contracts. Kao and two other executives were later indicted for illegal campaign donations; Kao is now serving additional prison time after pleading guilty. ProPublica reported the probe stalled after Trump took office in 2021, amid a broader pullback in corruption investigations under his administration, including cuts to the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and an FBI public-corruption squad.

Collins called the allegations "categorically false" and attacked Kao's credibility given his fraud and money-laundering convictions; the FBI said it already investigated and found nothing implicating her. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the report "a political hit job." It lands six weeks before Collins seeks a sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson, who called the allegations "corruption of the highest order," in a pivotal Senate race in a state Trump lost in 2024.