Planned Parenthood makes big ad buy in Maine Senate race  

The super PAC for Planned Parenthood is rolling out a more than $600,000 ad campaign against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), criticizing her for her record on abortion as Democrats look to flip the Maine Senate seat this fall.  

Planned Parenthood Votes released some of its first ads in the digital campaign Monday. In one video, a woman who reported voting for Collins said she regretted that decision. The voter cited the GOP senator’s track record on abortion and her vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh as her reasoning.

“She said very recently that she doesn’t even regret confirming Brett Kavanaugh, and that just is so shocking to me,” the woman says in part of the ad. “I can’t take my vote back, but I will not make the same mistake twice.” 

Collins’s campaign spokesperson Blake Kernan slammed Planned Parenthood Votes over the ad campaign, pointing out in a statement that the organization had as recently as 2025 noted the GOP senator had a “long history of supporting Planned Parenthood and access to essential health care.” 

“The Planned Parenthood Action Fund cares more about electing Democrats than any issue,” Kernan said. 

“Now they are endorsing a candidate who as recently as 2013 received a 100% pro life rating,” she continued, referring to Maine Senate Democratic nominee Troy Jackson. “As Planned Parenthood itself said, Susan Collins has always supported access to care for Mainers and all Americans, and she will continue to do so.” 

Left-leaning groups like Planned Parenthood Votes are planning on highlighting Collins’s vote for Kavanaugh, who was a part of the 6-3 majority in 2022 that overturned federal protections to abortion access. Collins also voted for conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch but voted against Justice Amy Coney Barrett, two justices who also supported overturning Roe v. Wade.

However, Collins has bucked her party at times on the issue of abortion, including introducing legislation alongside Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — ahead of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision — that would have codified federal abortion protections.  

The super PAC has also started launching ads against Michigan Senate hopeful former Rep. Mike Rogers (R).

Jackson, a former Maine Senate president who was nominated to replace scandal-plagued oyster farmer Graham Platner on the Democrats’ ticket, previously fielded attacks on the campaign trail over his track record on abortion when he was running for governor in the Pine Tree State.

Initially joining the Maine state Legislature as a Republican before later switching to become a Democrat, Jackson was previously against same-sex marriage and abortion, though his positions later evolved.  

“I’ve made mistakes early on in understanding” abortion, he told The New York Times in an interview last month. “Regardless of this U.S. Senate race, I’m really, really proud of how I’ve turned that around and, you know, done the right thing. I mean, I was wrong.”