WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Vandals dumped red paint outside Sen. Susan Collins’ Biddeford office and wrote “BLOOD on her HANDS” on the sidewalk.
- Chief of staff Katie Brown called the incident disturbing and said Collins’ staff remained undeterred and working.
- The office was previously spray painted in September, and protesters entered it days after a July ICE officer involved shooting.
- Biddeford police are investigating the latest vandalism, according to Collins’ campaign.
Sen. Susan Collins’ office in Biddeford, Maine, was vandalized Monday night, marking the second such incident at the location in a month. The latest attack came on the night before Election Day and involved red paint and a message accusing the Republican senator of having blood on her hands, as reported by Fox News.
Vandals dumped a bucket of red paint in front of the office and wrote “BLOOD on her HANDS” in crimson on the sidewalk outside the building. The display followed an earlier incident in September, when red spray paint was used to deface the office door.
Collins’ chief of staff, Katie Brown, described the latest vandalism as part of a continuing effort to intimidate the senator and those who work for her. Brown told Fox News’ Alexis McAdams, “This is another incident in a series and the second attempt at our Biddeford office to intimidate the Senator and her staff.”
Brown made clear that the ugly tactic would not chase Collins’ employees away from their responsibilities. “These tactics are disturbing, but not effective,” she said. “Our staff is undeterred and on the job.”
The Monday incident brought renewed attention to the Biddeford office, which has already been the target of protests and vandalism. In September, someone spray-painted the epithet “Trump whore” in red on the office door.
That September vandalism drew condemnation from former Democratic state Senator Troy Jackson, who is challenging Collins for her U.S. Senate seat. Jackson issued a statement to Fox News Digital denouncing whoever was responsible for defacing the office.
“Senator Collins and her staff should be able to do their jobs without anyone defacing their office, and I condemn whoever did this,” Jackson said. His statement specifically addressed the September incident rather than the latest bucket of red paint and sidewalk message.
The office is also located near the scene of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer-involved shooting in July. In that incident, a law enforcement officer shot and killed Johan Sebastián Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national.
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Days after the July shooting, protesters forced their way through the front door of Collins’ Biddeford office. They chanted “vote her out” during the protest, bringing their political message directly inside the senator’s workplace.
The sequence described by Collins’ staff now includes that protest, the September spray painting and Monday night’s red paint vandalism. Brown characterized the latest episode as the second effort within a month targeting the Biddeford location.
The timing placed the incident immediately before voters headed to the polls on Election Day. The vandalism also unfolded as Collins and Jackson were competing for the U.S. Senate seat and participating in a heated Maine campaign.
Collins and Jackson appeared together during a debate at Husson University in Bangor on Thursday. A photograph from the event showed Collins directing a question to Jackson as the two candidates faced each other in the Senate contest.
Biddeford police are investigating Monday night’s incident, according to Collins’ campaign. The source did not identify any suspect or provide details about possible charges connected to the red paint or the message written on the sidewalk.
Collins’ campaign and Jackson’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment. Jackson’s previous statement condemning vandalism remained the response cited in connection with the September defacement.
For Collins’ office, the message after the latest incident was direct: the staff intends to keep working despite repeated attempts at intimidation. Brown said the tactics were disturbing but ineffective, refusing to give the vandals the result they apparently wanted.
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