Politics · North America

Manchin endorses Collins and joins her at a Maine campaign stop

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin endorsed Republican Sen. Susan Collins’s reelection bid and joined her at campaign events in Maine. Manchin praised Collins to workers in Norway, while Collins highlighted their bipartisan work and said she makes policy decisions based on her own judgment.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 4 independent reports from 5 outlets · Article text read from 3 of 4 reportsHow it's made

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5 outletsLatest reporting Oct 22, 3:15 AM UTC4 min read

Coverage: Too few ratedL 0 · C 2 · R 0 · 3 unrated

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Photo: United States Senate photography studio / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

What happened

Key facts

At a New Balance campaign stop in Norway, Manchin told workers Maine and the country need Collins in Washington and called her a national treasure (per fox23maine.com, wmtw.com).
Collins said Manchin’s independent status lets him speak to their collaboration on bipartisan bills and that she believes the message will resonate with Maine voters (per wmtw.com, fox23maine.com, newscentermaine.com).
Collins said she is among the senators most likely to oppose her party and supports or opposes policies according to her judgment of them (per fox23maine.com).
Collins said she and Manchin worked together on many pieces of legislation and praised him for putting his state ahead of party (per wabi.tv, wmtw.com, fox23maine.com).
Collins and Manchin were members of a bipartisan group that negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 (per wmtw.com).

The brief

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin endorsed Sen. Susan Collins’s reelection bid and campaigned with the Republican in Maine, bringing a former Senate colleague’s support to her effort to win a sixth term. The visit included a stop at New Balance in Norway, where Manchin spoke to workers about Collins’s value to the state and the country.

Manchin described Collins as someone who put Maine ahead of party. He called her a “national treasure,” according to the account of his remarks at the workplace. In another reported comment, he said that losing Collins would mean losing “the soul of the Senate.” His statements cast the endorsement as support for Collins’s role in the institution as well as her campaign.

Collins emphasized her record of making decisions independently of party lines. She said she is among the senators most likely to oppose her own party and that she backs or rejects policies according to whether she considers them right.

She also argued that Manchin’s independent status allows him to speak to their work together across party lines, and said that message could resonate with Maine voters. The campaign appearances were scheduled for Lewiston and Norway on Wednesday.

The Norway stop at New Balance gave Manchin an opportunity to address workers directly; the accounts do not give further details about the Lewiston appearance. Manchin’s endorsement preceded the visit, while Collins’s comments connected his support to their shared legislative record.

Collins and Manchin served in the Senate together for more than 14 years, according to one account. Collins said they collaborated on numerous pieces of legislation. The two also belonged to the bipartisan group that negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, a specific example of the cross-party work she invoked during the campaign.

Manchin was a Democrat for most of his political career. He left the party and registered as an independent in 2024, and announced that he would not seek reelection. His current independent status is central to how Collins presented his endorsement: she said he could speak from outside the party structure about their collaboration.

The coverage foregrounds different parts of the appearance without presenting conflicting accounts of the central event.

One account focuses on the planned Maine stops and their bipartisan legislative work; another details the Norway workplace speech and Collins’s description of her independence; a third emphasizes their shared bills and her praise of Manchin’s state-first approach.

Together, those details show how the campaign framed the endorsement around both personal support and a record of cross-party cooperation.

Why it matters

Collins is seeking a sixth Senate term, and Manchin’s endorsement gives her campaign support from a former colleague who is now an independent.
The New Balance stop put Manchin’s appeal directly before workers in Norway, where he said Maine and the country need Collins in Washington.
Collins tied the endorsement to her claims of independent decision-making and to bipartisan legislative work, including the group that negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.
Manchin’s departure from the Democratic Party in 2024 gives Collins a way to present his support as coming from outside the party he previously belonged to.

What to watch next

Whether Collins and Manchin make the planned campaign appearances in Lewiston and Norway.
Whether Collins uses Manchin’s endorsement and their bipartisan legislative record in her campaign for a sixth term.
Whether Manchin continues to campaign publicly for Collins after endorsing her reelection bid.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details

6 source articles · 5 unique outlets · 4 distinct reports

Outlet political mix: Too few rated· 2 Center · 3 unrated

Where the outlets are based: Unknown 80% · US/Canada 20%

Outlet political mix

Too few rated

Left

Center

Right

0 outlets

2 outlets

0 outlets

The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 3 unrated outlets are not included.

Geography

Where the outlets covering this story are based.

5 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada

All5 US/CA1 · 20%Unknown4 · 80%

Coverage imbalance

Coverage is currently concentrated among outlets based in Unknown (4 of 5 geographically-identified sources).

How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

1 framing difference · 2 uncorroborated claims · 1 information gap

The reports repeat the same account with different emphasis; its central claims are not independently confirmed in the reporting Updat3 read.Compared across 3 reports whose article text Updat3 read; 1 other outlet was checked by headline only.

Framing / emphasis differences

Sources emphasise different angles, actors or consequences of the same reporting.

One account stresses the planned appearances in Lewiston and Norway and the pair’s work on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; another centers on Manchin’s remarks to New Balance workers and Collins’s claim of independent judgment; a third emphasizes Collins’s praise of Manchin and their collaboration on legislation.

Updat3: These are differences of emphasis, not disputes about what is reported. They do not show that the reported claims are true.

One-sided or uncorroborated claims

Claims that come from one party or one source family and are not independently corroborated.

Manchin said Collins was a “national treasure” and that losing her would mean losing “the soul of the Senate.”
Collins said she is among the senators most likely to oppose her own party and described her policy decisions as based on her own judgment.

Updat3: Not independently corroborated yet — treat as a claim, not an established fact.

Not established by the reporting

Information the available reporting does not contain or confirm. This is a gap, not a disagreement.

The sources do not describe the campaign’s broader schedule, the expected electoral effect of Manchin’s endorsement, or any polling evidence about the race.

Updat3: Updat3 cannot conclude anything about this from the current sources.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.

1996
Susan Collins was elected to the U.S. Senate from Maine.
Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
2010
Joe Manchin won a special election to the U.S. Senate from West Virginia.
Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
Nov 3, 2020
Susan Collins won reelection to the U.S. Senate from Maine.
Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
2021
Collins and Manchin were members of a bipartisan group that negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.
Reported in this story's sourcesSource:wmtw.com
Jan 3, 2021
The 117th Congress convened on January 3, 2021, and Democrats held the chamber through Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.
Background · from our historical context
May 31, 2024
Their records also reflected different party positions: Collins remained a Republican, while Manchin announced on May 31, 2024, that he was leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent.
Background · from our historical context
2025
Joe Manchin left the U.S. Senate after not seeking reelection.
Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

Susan Collins and Joe Manchin’s most prominent joint legislative effort came in 2021, when they were among the bipartisan senators who negotiated an infrastructure package with the Biden administration.

The group announced an agreement on June 24, 2021; the Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on August 10, and President Joe Biden signed it into law on November 15, 2021. Collins, a Republican from Maine, and Manchin, then a Democrat from West Virginia, were among the senators who worked across party lines on the measure.