Rebecca Traister's nymag.com article argues that Susan Collins's moderation doomed her, recounting how the senator who promised in 1996 to serve only two terms was soundly defeated in the 2026 midterms by Troy Jackson, a logger, union man, and former Maine senate president. Traister recalls Chellie Pingree's failed 2002 challenge — and a campaign worker's warning that "you have to beat her now, or she'll wind up there for 30 years" — alongside Deqa Dhalac's post-election texts celebrating Collins's retirement after 30 years in the Senate.