Trump’s foreign policy, Epstein and corruption allegations loom over Senate debates in Maine, Georgia and Iowa

CNN

By Annie Grayer, Steve Contorno, Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — One Republican tried to put distance between herself and President Donald Trump on trade and the Iran war. Another focused her criticism on Trump’s diesel deal with Russia. And a third tried to turn one of the GOP’s biggest political liabilities against their Democratic rival.

Tuesday’s Senate debates in Maine, Georgia and Iowa offered a revealing look at how Republicans are navigating a difficult political environment in the closing weeks before the midterm elections, with control of the narrowly divided Senate at stake.

In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins emphasized her independence from Trump as she sparred with Democratic challenger Troy Jackson over the Iran war, healthcare cuts and a trade war with Canada. Down the East Coast in Georgia, Republican Rep. Mike Collins went on the offensive as he tried to turn the tables by attacking Sen. Jon Ossoff over his ties to a donor named in the Jeffrey Epstein files — an issue that has largely put Republicans on the defensive.

In another closely watched contest in Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek made their case to voters Tuesday night for the state’s open Senate contest, squabbling over Trump’s foreign policy and which of the two candidates actually showed up for work.

The heated exchanges underscore the different challenges facing Republicans as they try to hold onto their Senate majority. Democrats, meanwhile, need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate.

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

Susan Collins stakes out further distance from Trump

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.

Hinson separates from Trump on Russia, Iran

Hinson similarly sought to distance herself from Trump during her Iowa debate on two of the biggest foreign policy crises confronting the president — Russia’s war with Ukraine and the US war with Iran.

On Tuesday night she criticized Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply markets with diesel fuel in a bid to lower prices that both candidates said are hurting Iowa farmers.

“We need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it,” she said.

Hinson also pointed to a 2022 congressional ban on energy imports from Russia, a measure intended to punish the Russian economy over Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

“I am proud to have voted for sanctions against Russia,” she said. “I’m banned from Russia because of my stance on being tough on them and supporting Ukraine, and we cannot allow Vladimir Putin to win that war.”

She also said Trump’s war with Iran “does need to come to a resolute and successful end as quickly as possible.” However, Hinson balked when asked whether she would again vote against a war powers resolution that would halt Trump’s ability to continue military action against Iran without the approval of Congress.

“I don’t think we need another resolution on the House floor. I think the president and the US military can bring it to the end,” she said.

Those breaks with Trump were notable in a debate in which Trump played a minor role — a reality owing to both Hinson’s awareness of Trump’s sagging popularity and Turek’s need to win over a share of voters who backed Trump in the 2024 election.

Hinson rarely made direct reference to Trump. But she did say she lobbied Trump personally last week to quickly get soybean trade pacts negotiated to open up foreign markets for Midwestern farmers — an acknowledgement of the economic fallout of Trump’s tariff policies.

Mike Collins steps up his offense

Mike Collins spent the first Georgia Senate debate largely on the defensive. But in Tuesday’s debate, he came out swinging.

“This is a race between Georgia and Georgetown,” Collins said at the top of his opening state.

From there, Collins called Ossoff a “globetrotting trust-fund kid,” and a “coward” who hides behind “scripted online clips.” And days after Ossoff opened their last debate by telling Georgians he would put Collins’ record on trial, the Republican said it was his turn to expose his opponent’s past.

“Tough questions are going to come out tonight,” Collins said. “No one’s ever challenged Jon Ossoff on anything he’s ever voted on.”

Collins, who faces an uphill climb to knock off the incumbent Democrat, spent much of the next hour criticizing Ossoff over his record on immigration, his support for green energy initiatives and the help he’s received from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. He accused Ossoff of being an inadequate ally of Israel and of ignoring the interests of Georgians while he built a national profile that has fueled speculation about a future White House bid.

“He’s using us as a platform,” Collins said in his closing remarks. “Georgians are hardworking people, and we deserve a senator that will work as hard as us for us.”

For his part, Ossoff picked up where he left off at last week’s debate. He confronted Collins over his White nationalist son-in-law, criticized his support for Trump’s tariffs and tied him to the unpopular conflict with Iran. He also repeatedly pressed Collins to testify in a House ethics investigation into whether his office misused taxpayer funds.

Collins called the investigation a “political hit job” when asked. Ossoff contended he was dodging.

Georgia’s Senate debate gets heated over Epstein

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.

Jackson, Collins spar over fraud claims

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.

An Iowa debate over work ethic

In both of their Iowa Senate debates, Hinson and Turek have hammered each other for what they didn’t do.

Early in their clash Tuesday night, Hinson repeatedly lambasted Turek for missing 58% of the Iowa House’s floor votes in the most recent legislative session.

“That’s two out of every five days of work,” Hinson said. “If you show up to work two out of five days, you don’t get a promotion; you’re getting fired.”

Turek’s defense for those missed votes was that he was campaigning for the Senate. Before facing Hinson in the general election, he had to win a competitive primary.

“I’m out campaigning. I’m out meeting Iowans all over — all 99 counties. I’ve done hundreds of in-person town halls,” he said.

Turek, meanwhile, criticized Hinson for failing to conduct in-person public town halls — a decision many congressional Republicans have made after seeing the fierce backlash to Trump’s second term at early 2025 town halls. He said Hinson is “the least bipartisan member of the Iowa delegation.”

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