Sen. Susan Collins vowed on Thursday to fight cutbacks to National Institutes of Health research grants, saying she will personally lobby the Trump administration and is helping to form a broad coalition in an attempt to reverse the funding caps.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced on Thursday that she will vote against Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Collins joined Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in publicly opposing Patel, one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees.

Susan Collins ... despite losing Collins' support. Key Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are backing Patel for the role. Tillis, who held out on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's nomination, was one of the first to get behind ...

And Collins voted against former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary. Hegseth was approved anyway when Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie.

Patel is a controversial nominee, having long raged against the so-called Deep State and prioritized his loyalty to Trump.

National political insiders and observers are already eyeing Sen. Susan Collins' bid for reelection in 2026 as a potentially pivotal race — and a very expensive one. One prominent national political forecaster said last week that,