Trump, Epstein and corruption allegations loom over Senate debates in Maine and Georgia

Republican Senate candidates in the battleground states of Maine and Georgia tried to turn the tables on their Democratic foes in Tuesday night’s debates as the GOP faces increasing headwinds in the final sprint before Election Day with control of the chamber on the line.

GOP Sen. Susan Collins in Maine repeatedly distanced herself from President Donald Trump when her Democratic challenger Troy Jackson tried to tie her to the president on the Iran war, healthcare cuts and Canadian tariffs.

Throughout the debate, the theme of corruption loomed large, as both candidates tried to pin the other with claims of fraud.

In Georgia, GOP Rep. Mike Collins sought to go on offense on multiple fronts, including attacking Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff for donations he’s received from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who was mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.

The heated exchanges highlight the high stakes for both parties, with Republicans vying to hold onto their razor-thin majority while Democrats need to net four seats to flip the Senate.

In another battleground race, GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek are also making their case to voters Tuesday night in Iowa’s open Senate contest.

Here’s a look at key moments from the debates so far.

In Maine, Susan Collins sought to emphasize her independence, as the five-term incumbent seeks reelection in an environment increasingly difficult for Republicans amidst the president’s plummeting popularity.

After kicking off with her criticism of his approach to the war in Iran, Collins during later exchanges pointed to her vote against Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and her opposition to the tariffs on Canada. Her debate performance was the latest example of how vulnerable Republicans are defying Trump ahead of the midterms.

When discussing the Iran war, Collins quickly called Trump out for not having a plan, and stressed how once the conflict surpassed 60 days, she voted against the war effort.

“I voted with the Democrats to bring the war to an end, but there were not sufficient votes for that to happen,” the senator said. “In addition, I agree that the president did not have a good plan. He should have anticipated the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which part of the world’s oil travels, and I don’t feel that that was well anticipated, although it should have been.”

While Jackson sought to tie Collins to her party’s signature tax and policy bill that cut Medicaid, Collins pointed out that she ultimately did not support the bill specifically because of those cuts.

When Collins was asked about her position on Trump’s tariffs on Canada , she said, “I have been extremely outspoken in my opposition to Canadian tariffs and I have voted repeatedly to repeal them.”

But while Collins sought to highlight her distance from Trump, she also argued that she was better equipped than Jackson to work with his administration, pointing to her position as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee as leverage in negotiations.

Erik S. Lesser/AFP/Getty Images

A testy back-and-forth in the Georgia Senate debate over files related to Jeffrey Epstein illustrated how the late financier’s crimes continue to roil American politics.

During the debate, Mike Collins attacked Ossoff over the donations he’s received from Hoffman — “the same guy that’s in the Epstein files.”

(After the Justice Department’s Epstein files showed several messages between Hoffman and Epstein, the prolific Democratic donor acknowledged he had multiple meetings with the disgraced financier. “I only knew Jeffrey Epstein because of a fundraising relationship with MIT, which I very much regret,” Hoffman wrote on X .)

“The Epstein class is on stage right now, and it’s you,” Collins said, pressing Ossoff to denounce Hoffman.

Ossoff shot back that Collins was against making the Epstein files public, a reference to a July 2025 House vote that blocked a measure that would have required the Department of Justice to release the records in 30 days. Collins ultimately joined 426 of his colleagues to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act last November after Trump, who had initially opposed the legislation, reversed and said he would sign the measure. Millions of documents were eventually released.

“You voted to cover up the evidence, even though you knew 14-year-old girls had been raped, because Donald Trump told you to,” Ossoff said. “Donald Trump, who, by the way, is named 1,000 times in the Epstein files.”

The debate around the documents and their ultimate revelations of Epstein’s ties to many high-profile figures dominated headlines for months over the last year. Now, candidates are seeking to capitalize on the issue, from the debate stage in Georgia to campaign ads in Colorado featuring the family of a prominent Epstein accuser.

Both candidates tried to land an anti-corruption argument as the issue has taken center stage in the Maine Senate race

When Collins attacked Jackson for being ineffective in cutting fraud in Medicare and Medicaid in the Maine state legislature, Jackson immediately turned the issue back on Collins.

Jackson used Collins’ decision to talk about fraud as an opening to bring up a ProPublica report of a pay-to-play scheme allegation that Collins committed to steering millions of dollars in federal contracts to a Hawaii-based defense contractor in exchange for donations to her 2020 campaign.

“I’m shocked that you’re talking about fraud because there’s only one person up here that’s been accused of that by the FBI,” Jackson said.

Collins has denounced the report as a “political hit job” and her office has called the allegations “categorically false.”

Central to Jackson’s argument throughout the debate were accusations that the longtime incumbent is beholden to billionaires and special interests.

Collins said that Jackson was insulting her integrity and tried to flip the script by later accusing Jackson of not being forthcoming about who is funding his campaign since he replaced Graham Platner on the ballot this summer.

“I’ll give you the report tomorrow morning,” Jackson said, ahead of the FEC third quarter filing deadline on Thursday.

在周二晚的辩论中，缅因州和佐治亚州这两个关键摇摆州的共和党参议员候选人试图扭转局面，击败他们的民主党对手。随着选举日临近，共和党在参议院控制权争夺战中面临越来越大的阻力。

缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯多次与唐纳德·特朗普总统保持距离，而她的民主党挑战者特洛伊·杰克逊则试图将她与总统在伊朗战争、医疗保健削减和加拿大关税等问题上联系起来。

在整个辩论过程中，腐败问题始终是一个重要议题，两位候选人都试图用欺诈指控来攻击对方。

在佐治亚州，共和党众议员迈克·柯林斯试图在多个方面发起攻势，包括攻击民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫，指责他接受了领英联合创始人里德·霍夫曼的捐款，而里德·霍夫曼曾在司法部公布的杰弗里·爱泼斯坦文件中被提及。

双方激烈的交锋凸显了此次选举对两党的重要性，共和党人正努力保住他们微弱的多数席位，而民主党人则需要净增四个席位才能翻转参议院。

在另一场激烈的选战中，共和党众议员阿什利·欣森和民主党州众议员乔什·图雷克也在周二晚上向选民阐述各自的竞选纲领，角逐爱荷华州的参议院席位。

以下是迄今为止辩论中的几个关键时刻。

在缅因州，苏珊·柯林斯力图强调她的独立性。这位五届现任议员正在寻求连任，但随着总统支持率暴跌，共和党人的处境越来越艰难。

科林斯在辩论伊始便批评了特朗普对伊朗战争的处理方式，随后在交锋中又强调了她曾投票反对特朗普的“一项宏伟法案”，以及她反对对加拿大征收关税。她在辩论中的表现再次凸显了共和党人在中期选举前对抗特朗普的脆弱性。

在谈到伊朗战争时，柯林斯迅速指出特朗普没有计划，并强调一旦冲突超过 60 天，她就投票反对这场战争。

“我曾与民主党人一起投票支持结束战争，但票数不足，未能实现，”这位参议员说。“此外，我也同意总统的计划并不周全。他本应预料到霍尔木兹海峡的关闭，因为世界上一部分石油都要经过那里，我认为他并没有对此做好充分的准备，尽管他本应该做好。”

尽管杰克逊试图将柯林斯与她所在政党削减医疗补助的标志性税收和政策法案联系起来，但柯林斯指出，她最终不支持该法案正是因为这些削减。

当被问及她对特朗普对加拿大征收关税的立场时，柯林斯说：“我一直非常公开地反对对加拿大征收关税，并且我曾多次投票废除这些关税。”

尽管柯林斯试图强调她与特朗普的距离，但她也辩称，她比杰克逊更适合与特朗普政府合作，并指出她作为参议院拨款委员会主席的职位是谈判中的筹码。

Erik S. Lesser/法新社/盖蒂图片社

佐治亚州参议院就与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦有关的文件展开的激烈辩论，表明了这位已故金融家的罪行如何继续搅动美国政坛。

在辩论中，迈克·柯林斯抨击奥索夫收受了霍夫曼的捐款——“就是爱泼斯坦案档案里的那个人”。

（在司法部公布爱泼斯坦案档案后，霍夫曼与爱泼斯坦之间的多条信息被曝光，这位民主党大金主承认他曾多次与这位声名狼藉的金融家会面。“我认识杰弗里·爱泼斯坦仅仅是因为与麻省理工学院的筹款关系，对此我深感后悔，”霍夫曼在X网站上写道。）

“爱泼斯坦那一类人现在就在台上，而你就是其中之一，”柯林斯说道，并敦促奥索夫谴责霍夫曼。

奥索夫反驳说，柯林斯反对公开爱泼斯坦档案，他指的是2025年7月众议院的一次投票，该投票否决了一项要求司法部在30天内公布这些记录的法案。去年11月，在最初反对该法案的特朗普改变立场并表示将签署该法案后，柯林斯最终与其他426名议员一起通过了《爱泼斯坦档案透明法案》。最终，数百万份文件被公开。

奥索夫说：“你投票掩盖证据，即使你知道有14岁女孩遭到强奸，因为唐纳德·特朗普让你这么做。顺便说一句，唐纳德·特朗普的名字在爱泼斯坦的档案中出现了1000次。”

过去一年，围绕这些文件及其最终揭露的爱泼斯坦与众多知名人士之间关系的争论占据了数月的新闻头条。如今，从佐治亚州的辩论台到科罗拉多州的竞选广告，各路候选人都试图利用这一议题，其中不乏以一位知名爱泼斯坦指控者的家人为主角的宣传片。

两位候选人都试图就反腐败问题展开辩论，因为该问题已成为缅因州参议员竞选的核心议题。

当柯林斯抨击杰克逊在缅因州立法机构打击医疗保险和医疗补助欺诈方面无所作为时，杰克逊立即将问题反过来指责柯林斯。

杰克逊利用柯林斯谈论欺诈的决定作为契机，提出了ProPublica的一份报告，该报告指控柯林斯参与了一项“付费游戏”计划，承诺将数百万美元的联邦合同输送给一家位于夏威夷的国防承包商，以换取对其2020年竞选活动的捐款。

杰克逊说：“我很震惊你竟然在谈论欺诈，因为这里只有一个人被联邦调查局指控犯有这种罪行。”

科林斯谴责该报道是“政治抹黑”，她的办公室称这些指控“完全是捏造的”。

杰克逊在整场辩论中的核心论点是，这位长期在任的官员受制于亿万富翁和特殊利益集团。

科林斯说杰克逊侮辱了她的正直品格，后来又反过来指责杰克逊自今年夏天取代格雷厄姆·普拉特纳成为候选人以来，一直没有公开谁在资助他的竞选活动。

“我明天早上会把报告给你，”杰克逊说道，此时距离联邦选举委员会周四提交第三季度报告的截止日期还有一段时间。