It’s too early to be thinking about the 2026 midterm elections, but we’re captive to Trump’s demolition derby in Washington and it’s the next glimmer of hope.

A turnaround entails Democrats regaining the Senate and retiring Sen. Susan Collins. In 2020, Collins beat Sara Gideon handily, 51% to 42%, bolstered by a substantial crossover vote from Democrats, which mirrored Gideon’s 10.6% underperformance of Joe Biden.

Avoiding a similar outcome will require Maine Democrats coming home, appealing to independents and attracting Republicans who haven’t traded commonsense conservatism for Trump’s twisted brand of chaos, lies, pettiness and power-grabbing.

There are three big reasons to pull the plug on Collins this time around.

The first reason is that Collins professes to be independent and isn’t. She falls into line whenever the chips are down and Trump needs her vote — like Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services. When her vote counts, she capitulates to Trump, who has command of MAGA trolls and big money donors.

Collins’ political doppelganger is former U.S. Rep. Connie Morella, a Republican who served Montgomery County, Maryland, for 16 years, winning eight House elections. Although Montgomery County is overwhelmingly Democratic, Connie Morella earned Democratic votes because she was moderate and congenial. It took a while but Democrats finally woke up to her unreliability in the pinch and elected Chris Van Hollen, now Maryland’s senior senator, who was succeeded in the House by Rep. Jamie Raskin, both quality representatives.

The erosion of values is the second reason to send Collins packing. While she voted to impeach Trump in February 2021 for the insurrection, she is now unwilling to challenge Trump’s need to rewrite the history of Jan. 6. Not an audible grumble when Trump pardoned over 1,500 perpetrators of the attack on the U.S Capitol and the brave officers who defended it. Similarly, not a peep when Trump insults Canadians by inviting them to become our 51st state. Good luck with Canadian tourism this summer.

Last but not least are the high stakes. Collins’ likeability and soothing style are no longer enough. Take the Supreme Court. Her acquiescence has enabled the rollback of women’s rights, voting rights, presidential accountability and other established law. We can’t let right-wing zealot Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society tip the scales any further.

Maine benefits from Collins being the new chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. It’s her strongest argument. But don’t fall for too much hubris. Most federal dollars to Maine are state-formula entitlements based on population and other eligibility criteria.

Similarly, appropriations for discretionary programs are anchored to overarching national needs. At the Federal Aviation Administration, where I worked for 27 years, our priorities were aviation safety and efficiency. State politics were only evident after FAA grant decisions were made and we were required to alert home-state members of Congress of a pending award so they could announce it, share the credit, and get the press.

Collins will be hard to beat. Democrats must field a strong candidate to overcome her advantages of name recognition and incumbency. Yet Dems have a couple of reasons to be confident, one being Maine’s ranked choice voting system for federal offices. This means that Elon Musk and dark money groups can’t bankroll third-party candidates to muck up the main event. Democrats will also be energized in 2026, which unlike 2020, is a lower-turnout midterm election without Trump on the ballot.

Maine’s cherished tradition of independent thinking is dying. Susan Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith, Olympia Snowe or Angus King. She’s broken faith with her constituents too many times for anyone to think it will be different in the future. She needs to go. Come home, Democrats, and let’s elect someone who will stand up and show true grit.