Thursday’s U.S. Senate debate between Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson ran the gamut from personal attacks to policy disagreements.

It was the second time this week the 73-year-old Collins and the 58-year-old Jackson, a former logger and state Senate president, squared off. Their final two debates will take place next week.

On Tuesday, Jackson put in a strong performance, delivering a couple zingers that took on lives of their own on social media. Those quips included comparing Collins to an arsonist and telling her that “you can’t eat road salt” after she claimed she got the material exempted from tariffs.

Collins was largely on the defensive as she tried to distance herself from President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Maine, and from corruption allegations amplified by Democrats. But she also displayed her experience and knowledge of the issues.

On Thursday, Jackson was a bit shakier, struggling at times to find his talking points on the fly while Collins continued to hold her own.

Polls continue to show a close race, with Jackson having a slight edge. But Republicans have more money than Democrats and have been flooding the airwaves with ads attacking Jackson in the closing final weeks of the campaign.

Here are five takeaways from their second meeting, which was broadcast on WTMW.

The candidates brought each other’s families into the debate.

Collins went on the attack first. She accused Jackson of changing his position on accepting donations from corporations. In his U.S. Senate campaign, Jackson has said he would not — but as state Senate president, his leadership PAC accepted those types of donations.

“It usually has to do with issues that his son has been hired to lobby him on,” Collins said of instances where Jackson has changed his positions over the years.

Later, Jackson took aim at Collins’ husband while discussing high energy prices. Jackson repeatedly blamed the Iran War for increasing fuel and electricity prices, saying that Collins voted five times against stopping it. (Collins noted she has voted nine times to end it.)

“She could use her leverage to stop this war,” he said. “But instead … Sen. Collins and her husband are making money off this war and so is a whole bunch of other people and that’s why this doesn’t stop.”

Jackson was referring to Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron’s, vast stock portfolio, which includes holdings in natural gas and Boeing. (Boeing’s stock price has fallen since the start of the war.)

Collins called Jackson’s charge of her family profiting off the conflict “absolutely outrageous” and demanded an apology.

“No, you owe me an apology,” Jackson replied.

When the debate turned to protecting Social Security, Jackson and Collins found a rare point of agreement — both agreed that people who earn more money should pay more into the system.

Social Security taxes are currently capped at a percentage of the first $184,000 you make, regardless of your income. Jackson said that cap should be scrapped so that wealthy people would pay more into the system.

“Here is something where I actually agree with Troy,” Collins said.

But Collins didn’t go as far as Jackson. Instead, she said, she would assemble a panel of independent financial experts to provide recommendations.

“We are simply going to have to adjust the cap,” Collins said.

Collins has made her experience and seniority a central theme of her campaign. Again, she referenced the $1.5 billion she has helped bring to Maine in recent years as chair of the Appropriations Committee — the first Mainer to hold that position in 92 years.

But Jackson wasn’t impressed. He continued to describe Collins as kowtowing to Trump’s demands.

“She’s powerful during election time but she’s weak every time we need her to stand up and fight for us,” Jackson said.

Abortion has been a big issue this campaign, especially Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, which led in part to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

But Collins tried to flip the script by noting that Jackson had been longtime opponent of abortion until he ran for Congress in 2014. She specifically pointed to a bill he opposed that would have allowed for abortions if a pregnancy threatened the mother’s health.

“He was an extremist when it comes to abortion,” Collins said, noting she has always been pro-choice.

Jackson, however, was ready. He acknowledged that he changed his views on abortion after speaking with women — something he said Collins didn’t do when Mainers traveled to D.C. to urge her to oppose Kavanaugh.

“Our records have changed,” said Jackson, who is endorsed by Planned Parenthood. “Mine has gotten better — hers has gotten worse.”

Jackson has repeatedly accused Collins of voting with Trump 96% of the time. The claim comes from CQ Roll Call analysis of the first seven months of 2025, which found the percentage was closer to 95%.

Collins said using the same approach to analyze her votes under former President Joe Biden would have shown her siding with the Democrat 91% of the time. And a more expansive look at Collin’s voting record in Trump’s second term shows she has sided with him 72% of the time, she claimed.

Collin said she has voted against Trump 137 times.

“But it didn’t matter,” Jackson shot back.