Maine might send Sen. Susan Collins packing after this year’s midterm elections. That decision could come back to bite the Pine Tree state’s balance sheet for years to come.

Collins, New England’s lone federally elected Republican, is in the fight of her political life against the Democratic progressive upstart candidate Graham Platner. Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, has seized on anger directed at President Donald Trump and anti-establishment animus to rocket to the Democratic nomination — forcing Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to abandon her own Senate campaign within a matter of months. His yard signs dot the state’s backroads and neighborhoods, and he leads in almost every head-to-head poll against Collins. 

The race, like most midterm contests, is shaping up to be a referendum on the president, who is underwater nationally in nearly every poll. And Collins, who has repeatedly beaten the odds in stunning fashion for the GOP even as New England has shifted solidly blue, is clearly running against the tide as voters mull whether to allow Trump a Senate majority for his final two years in the White House.

Senate control is objectively important. Democrats winning the Senate would likely prevent Trump from appointing a fourth and possibly fifth justice to the Supreme Court. It would also open the door for bicameral investigations into the president should Democrats also prevail in the House. Democrats’ chances of taking control of the Senate remain slim. A May 13 report from BCA Research projected Republicans retain a narrower majority in the chamber.

But Maine voters are presented with a special quandary when they go to the polls to decide Collins’ fate: Do they really want to clip the wings of their golden goose to loosen Trump’s grip on Washington? 

Collins, 73, who is running for a sixth term, is at the height of her power in the Senate — a body where seniority reigns supreme over all else. The moderate Mainer chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, a highly coveted post that makes her the gatekeeper of the federal purse and grants her the ability to ship billions of dollars home while holding immense leverage over the administration. 

“It’s a classic political question over the years,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who represents the state’s southern 1st Congressional District. She said it will be “hard to predict” whether voters will choose the certainty of seniority or “the politics of the day.”

In a phone interview with CNBC, Collins made the case for her reelection by arguing she’s positioned to deliver more for Maine, where others cannot. And she didn’t pull her punches when it came to pointing out what the state would lose if she were to…

Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins on Wednesday said she will be reluctant to support further interest rate cuts anytime soon with inflation still high and policymakers hampered by a lack of data due to the government shutdown.

“Given my baseline outlook, it will likely be appropriate to keep policy rates at the current level for some time to balance the inflation and employment risks in this highly uncertain environment,” the central bank official said in remarks delivered in her home district. “I see several reasons to have a relatively high bar for additional easing in the near term.”

Collins’s comments are notable because she is a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. Her remarks put her on the hawkish side of the rate debate, highlighting a fissure among committee members that led Chair Jerome Powell to say in October that a cut at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion, despite market pricing of a high probability.

Collins supported the quarter percentage point rate cut at the October meeting but indicated that further easing could thwart the Fed’s efforts to get inflation lower.

While Collins said softness in the labor market “bears watching,” she added that the risks of inflation staying above the Fed’s 2% target warrant caution.

“Against this backdrop, providing additional monetary support to economic activity runs the risk of slowing – or possibly even stalling – the return of inflation to target,” she said. “And with resilient demand, the downside risks to employment, while present, do not seem to have increased further since the summer.”

Collins also noted the role that the government shutdown is playing in her decision making. The impasse appears to be over, but White House press secretary said Wednesday that key reports on inflation and employment may not be available at all for October.

“Absent evidence of a notable labor market deterioration, I would be hesitant to ease policy further, especially given the limited information on inflation due to the government shutdown,” Collins said.

The FOMC in October voted 10-2 for the cut. Governor Stephen Miran voted no because he wanted a bigger reduction, while Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid opposed because he favored no cut.