NEW YORK TIMES: In Maine Senate Race, Spiking Heating Oil Costs Put Susan Collins on Defensive

PORTLAND, ME — New reporting from the New York Times highlights how Mainers are frustrated by Susan Collins’ refusal to stand up against Trump’s war in Iran that is increasing energy costs in Maine. Collins repeatedly backed the war in Iran, voting five times against ending it, continuing her long pattern of voting with Trump 96% of the time, even when it hurts everyday Mainers.

As a longtime union worker, Troy Jackson knows the frustration of working more and more hours but still struggling to get by, and that’s why he’s promised to fight to lower costs across the board. Susan Collins fights for Trump, Troy fights for working families.

Read the whole article here, or see the highlights below:

New York Times: In Maine Senate Race, Spiking Heating Oil Costs Put Susan Collins on Defensive

New England’s northernmost state is singularly reliant on heating oil, and the price of the product is surging because of President Trump’s war with Iran, which has clogged a vital oil shipping corridor.
The issue has started to move to the center of the race between Senator Susan Collins, a vulnerable fifth-term Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, who has blamed Ms. Collins for the rising fuel oil costs.
In Maine, the cost to fill a standard heating-oil tank as of Wednesday was $1,650, up roughly 80 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents state governments in securing federal money for heating bills.
Mr. Jackson told voters gathered for a town hall-style event that he did “not know how people are going to heat their homes” this winter. He scoffed at the efforts of Ms. Collins to lobby the Trump administration for the emergency release of oil from strategic reserves, arguing that she was too close to Mr. Trump and had “turned her back” on working-class Mainers.
“No one’s going to just sit there and freeze to death — they’ll do things to try and heat their home,” Mr. Jackson said.
In recent years, federal heating assistance programs have not kept up with rising prices. Earlier this year, Mr. Trump tried to eliminate a federal program to help poor Americans cover their heating and cooling bills, arguing that the United States needed to prioritize military needs.
Ms. Kelley, a Democrat, said that she planned to vote for Mr. Jackson, and that she knew political independents who had voted Republican in the past but were being drawn toward Democrats by the economic conditions. She said it had cost her $1,982 to fill the tank of her house with fuel oil. “A lot of people are struggling,” Ms. Kelley said. “It’s going to be a very tough year for Maine.”

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