A Democratic-aligned political action committee tied to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has launched a $700,000 ad campaign alleging Sen. Susan Collins has enriched herself through stock trading, a claim her office says is contradicted by financial disclosure filings.
Majority Forward, affiliated with the Schumer-linked Senate Majority PAC, began airing two spots in Maine — a 30-second ad titled "Greed" and a 15-second ad titled "This Life" — that accuse Collins of "the worst kind of greed; using insider information to trade stocks," and criticize her opposition to legislation that would bar members of Congress and their families from trading individual securities. Collins is weighing a bid for a sixth Senate term but has not formally declared a campaign.
Collins' office responded that the senator "has never bought, sold, or owned any shares of stock during her entire Senate tenure." A statement from the office said the stocks referenced in the ads are held in accounts in the name of Collins' husband, Tom Daffron, whose investments are managed by a third-party adviser. "No individual stocks have been bought or sold from his account in almost three years," the office said.
Majority Forward spokeswoman Lauren French defended the ads in a statement, saying they target Collins "for her refusal to support a stock trading ban for members of Congress and their families — bipartisan legislation that 95 percent of Mainers support." "Nowhere in the ad does it say Senator Collins regularly buys, sells, or owns stocks (though her husband does)," French added, and said the group would continue airing the spots in Maine.
The ads come as Congress considers proposals to curtail stock trading by members and their immediate families. One bill led by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would ban such trades; Collins has said she instead favors stronger enforcement of existing rules that bar insider trading, according to an interview with the Bangor Daily News. The White House and many Republicans initially opposed elements of the Hawley measure, which at one point included a carve-out for the president and vice president, and most Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Accountability Committee voted against it, with Hawley as a notable sponsor backing a broader ban. Collins is not a member of that committee.
Senate Democrats have sought to recruit Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to challenge Collins, though Mills has not announced a candidacy and the Democratic primary field is increasingly crowded. The race for Collins' seat has drawn attention from both parties because of her long tenure and the competitive political landscape in Maine.
Collins has faced public criticism at recent events in Maine from Democrats and progressive activists, and the new ad buy signals an escalation by a group aligned with Democratic Senate leaders. Majority Forward is one of several outside groups that deploy television and digital advertising in battleground states ahead of Senate contests.
The debate over congressional stock trading bans has drawn attention from national figures. Former President Donald Trump initially criticized some proposed restrictions but later expressed support for certain measures, and the issue has attracted bipartisan and public interest amid broader concerns about conflicts of interest in Washington.
The exchange between Collins' office and Majority Forward adds to a broader discussion about how elected officials and their families manage investments and whether current rules and disclosure requirements are sufficient. Financial disclosures filed with the Senate and the statements from both sides form the principal public record on which the competing claims are based.
Majority Forward's ads will continue to run in Maine as the parties and outside groups position for what promises to be a closely watched Senate contest in 2026, with both the substance of stock trading restrictions and the politics of the accusations playing into the early contours of the race.