Debate Dispatch: Six Senate Debates, Oct. 11 to 14

Six Senate races produced debates between October 11 and 14, and four of them were repeat meetings between the same candidates. Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and Mike Collins traded accusations over Jeffrey Epstein, the 2020 election and white nationalism, while Maine’s Susan Collins and Troy Jackson argued over Iran war votes and campaign finance. South Carolina’s interim senator Darline Graham faced a challenger who called her unqualified, and Iowa, Massachusetts and Colorado each produced a policy contest dominated by Donald Trump’s shadow. This dispatch covers what each candidate said, which claims could be checked and how coverage framed each night.

Georgia: Epstein, 2020 and 2028

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican Rep. Mike Collins met on October 13 in the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young series, the second and last debate of their race. CBS News Atlanta reported that the exchanges were personal from the start, with Collins calling Ossoff a “globetrotting trust fund kid” and Ossoff describing Collins as part of the Washington establishment. The first debate on October 8 was covered in our earlier dispatch. Ossoff has led in published polling, including a Wedgewood poll of 600 likely voters on October 2 and 3 that put him ahead 55% to 45%, as Newsweek listed alongside a closer Quantus Insights poll.

Epstein was the most repeated subject. Ossoff said Collins voted in 2025 to cover up government records on Epstein, and Collins replied that he voted to release the files and pointed to Ossoff’s support from Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor. CBS News Atlanta reported that Hoffman has said he knew Epstein only through an MIT fundraising relationship. Collins pressed Ossoff to condemn Hoffman, and Ossoff turned the question back to Trump and to Collins’s votes.

The 2020 election produced the night’s most awkward answer. Asked whether Trump beat Biden, Collins first said Biden went into office and that there were doubts, then said Biden was the president. Collins also called Ossoff a DSA candidate and said he is running for president, and Ossoff answered that he has no interest in a 2028 run and would serve a full six-year term.

The most serious exchange concerned white nationalism. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Ossoff had recently called Collins a bigot, citing a former staffer who posted Ku Klux Klan and swastika images and a family member’s online activity. JTA’s account said Collins condemned hate and antisemitism, said he had fired people “when things happened,” and said Ossoff’s rhetoric fuels threats against his family. Collins in turn linked Ossoff to Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and to the streamer Hasan Piker, and Ossoff defended his votes to block some arms sales to Israel.

Fact-check: The two accounts of Collins’s Epstein vote conflict, and this article could not verify either description. Ossoff’s statement that Trump is named a thousand times in the Epstein files also went unchecked in the reports read here. CBS News Atlanta described Collins’s long-running claims that the 2020 election was rigged as false. This article could not verify the DSA label, and the reports read here did not report Ossoff’s response on El-Sayed or Piker. The family-member allegation rests on CNN reporting that JTA relayed, and this article did not open the CNN report.

Coverage: Headlines centered on Ossoff’s 2028 denial and on the Epstein exchange, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency led with the white nationalism and Israel clashes. Our Georgia Senate briefing covers the race itself. Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics both rate it Likely Democratic, per CBS News Atlanta.

Maine: A Third Debate With Few New Questions

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson met on October 13 in Bangor, hosted by WABI and WAGM. The Portland Press Herald reported in its live coverage that moderators asked few new questions and that several topics repeated earlier debates. A fourth and final debate was set for October 15, after this dispatch was written.

The Iran war again dominated. Jackson said Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, could use her leverage to cut off funding for the war, and said she had first voted to enable it. Collins said she voted nine times against it but lacked the votes. WABI reported that Jackson called Maine’s heating aid temporary and that Collins blamed state policy under Jackson’s legislative leadership for the fourth-highest electricity rates in the country.

Campaign finance and ethics produced the sharpest exchanges. Collins said Jackson had filed no FEC reports, so voters did not know who funds his campaign, and Jackson promised to file his report the next morning. Jackson said Collins did not deny that billionaires fund her, and he cited ProPublica reporting and said only one person on stage had been accused of something by the FBI. In his closing, per the Press Herald, he also said Collins had paid for the bullets in an ICE shooting in Biddeford, and he reaffirmed his call to abolish ICE.

Policy differences were clearer on health care and trade. Jackson backed Medicare for All, which Collins opposes, and Collins accused him of not understanding the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Both said they oppose the Canadian tariffs, with Collins saying she won exemptions for items such as concrete and pulp. On the 2025 tax and spending law, Collins said she secured a $50 billion rural health fund from which Maine has received $190 million, and Jackson argued she opposed the bill only after its passage was assured.

Fact-check: The accounts of Collins’s war votes conflict. After the earlier second debate, PolitiFact called her nine-votes claim “selective counting,” according to a local television report this article could not match to a PolitiFact page. Collins says she voted nine times against the war, and Jackson says she first voted five times to enable it. The Bangor Daily News fact-check described nine early votes followed by five later votes alongside Democrats, and this article could not resolve the difference. That fact-check also found that reports of her husband’s Boeing and RTX holdings did not show the couple profiting from her votes. This article could not verify Jackson’s FBI reference, which neither WABI nor the Press Herald attributed to a named person, or Collins’s claim about FEC filings, and it could not verify the $190 million figure.

Coverage: The Press Herald described the night as largely repetitive, and WABI led with energy costs and health care. Our Maine Senate briefing covers the race itself.

South Carolina: A Fight Over Qualifications

Sen. Darline Graham, a Republican appointed after her brother Lindsey Graham died in July, met Democrat Annie Andrews and Libertarian Kasie Whitener on Sunday, October 11, in Columbia. The Associated Press reported that it was their only debate and that most of the hour was about which candidate was less qualified. Andrews called Graham “unserious and unqualified,” and Graham said Andrews had flip-flopped on everything and had never held elected office.

Andrews raised Graham’s stumble in a Republican runoff debate, when Graham struggled with a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea, and compared it to a surgeon who does not want to operate. She also criticized Graham for using her maiden name for political advantage. Graham said “Graham” is her legal name and that she used her married name, Nordone, only on a social media page. Graham said the topic brought back memories of her parents’ deaths.

On prices, ABC News 4 reported that Andrews proposed suspending the federal gas and diesel tax and ending the Iran war, Graham favored easing drilling and refining regulations, and Whitener wanted spending cuts to reduce the national debt. Graham expressed support for Trump’s AI task force and Andrews said Graham would not break with the White House.

Fact-check: Neither report checked any claim. This article could not verify Andrews’s statement that Graham voted three times to continue the war. ABC News 4 cited a Rasmussen Reports poll showing Graham ahead 49% to 45% but gave no sample size or dates, so this article treats it as unconfirmed.

Coverage: The AP framed the night as a qualifications feud, and ABC News 4’s headline used Andrews’s line that Graham will do “whatever Washington tells her.” Early voting begins October 19, and the AP noted outside groups have spent millions supporting Graham.

Iowa: Tariffs and Missed Votes

Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek met on October 13 in Des Moines for a Nexstar debate carried by WHO 13, their second and final meeting. Newsweek reported that the candidates clashed on Iran, tariffs, immigration, health care, taxes and Social Security and largely avoided personal attacks.

On tariffs, Turek argued that Congress should hold primary tariff authority, while Hinson said she would need to review a proposal limiting presidential tariff power before deciding. Hinson called border security the defining issue. Turek acknowledged missing legislative votes while campaigning, and Hinson said officials should be judged on whether they show up. Neither answered directly whether control of the Strait of Hormuz should be left to Iran.

Analysts quoted by Newsweek split on the result. A University of Iowa political scientist said Hinson did a better job, an Iowa State professor said Turek was well rehearsed and credible on health care, and a Vanderbilt professor said each scored a few points. Polling is close: Emerson had Hinson ahead 47% to 45% on October 5 and 6, while Suffolk University had Turek ahead 48% to 43.6% on October 1 to 4, per Newsweek.

Fact-check: The report read here included no fact-checks, and this article could not verify any candidate claim from the debate. The Emerson and Suffolk polls were fielded before the debate, and Newsweek reported that no later polls had been released. Our Iowa Senate briefing covers the race.

Coverage: Coverage focused on the divided expert verdicts and on Turek’s missed votes as a likely attack ad. This account of the second debate rests on a single report, because the others this article tried to open could not be read.

Massachusetts: Running Against Trump

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey and Republican John Deaton met on October 13 for the only debate of their race, shown on WBZ. Boston 25 News reported that Deaton presented himself as independent, saying he wears an American jersey and not a Republican one, and that Markey, who is 80, dismissed concerns about his age.

Markey repeatedly tied Deaton to Trump, saying he would be a check on the president while Deaton would be a blank check. Deaton said he never voted for, supported or endorsed Trump. WBUR reported that they split on Medicare for All, which Markey backs and Deaton called a lost cause, and on energy, where Markey defended the Green New Deal and Deaton proposed four small modular reactors and more natural gas.

Fact-check: Markey said Deaton spent $350,000 to buy the Republican nomination, and Deaton said Democrats had a governing trifecta four times and still failed to raise the minimum wage. Boston 25 reported both as claims and did not verify them. Deaton’s statement that his plan would cut energy costs in half also went unverified in WBUR’s report, as did Markey’s figure of about $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. WBUR said Markey is running well ahead in polls but gave no figures, so this article does not report any.

Coverage: WBUR’s headline stressed that Trump loomed large, and Boston 25 led with the party-loyalty clash. This article could not open a fact-check of the debate listed by Yahoo News, so no ratings are reported.

Colorado: Abortion and Cabinet Votes

Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper and Republican state Sen. Mark Baisley met on October 14 at Metropolitan State University Denver, hosted by 9News, in the second of two debates. Colorado Newsline reported that Hickenlooper called Baisley a rubber stamp for Trump and that Baisley made little effort to distance himself from the president.

Baisley reaffirmed his opposition to abortion rights and said he would vote for a national ban. Moderators pressed him on a 2020 same-sex marriage bill he sponsored, a 2022 Capitol rally with election deniers and his views on public schools. He defended Medicaid changes and argued for a smaller government role in health care, and he called Hickenlooper’s criticism of Trump a case of “TDS.”

Hickenlooper attacked the 2025 tax and spending law as a betrayal that raises costs, and said he supports universal coverage without directly answering whether he backs single-payer. He also said he regrets his votes to confirm Trump Cabinet nominees. The report said his narrow June primary win over progressive Julie Gonzales did not stop him from calling his party a big tent.

Fact-check: Colorado Newsline did not fact-check the candidates. It estimated that about 377,000 Coloradans could lose coverage under the Medicaid changes, attributing the figure to Axios, and this article could not verify it. Baisley’s claim that Democratic governance caused the affordability crisis is an opinion this article could not test. This article could not locate Colorado polling for the race.

Coverage: The report framed the night around Trump and abortion, and noted that Colorado voters have not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2016.

View from Outside the US

Canadian outlets have covered the Maine race mainly through trade, and both Maine candidates said on October 13 that they oppose the Canadian tariffs. A Reuters report carried by BNN Bloomberg said Canada accounted for 69% of Maine’s imports and 41% of its exports in 2025, and that Canada’s retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on about $20 billion of US goods took effect September 8. Those figures are from mid-September and do not reflect anything said at the debate. The Iran war that came up in five of the six debates affects countries far from the campaign, but this article did not find a debate-related foreign report on it.

Note on Scope

This dispatch relies on published reports rather than full transcripts or video, so word choices and some figures are as reported. Reporting is current as of October 15, 2026. Debates scheduled for the evening of October 15, including Alaska’s Senate race, Maine’s final Senate debate and Maine’s 2nd District, had not yet taken place. This article could not open reports from NBC News, The Hill, the Boston Globe, Yahoo News and the Bangor Daily News live coverage, or PolitiFact pages for these debates, so several sections rest on one or two accounts. The debate hosts for South Carolina were not named in the reports read, and no social media reaction attributed through a named outlet was found. The six races were the Senate debates found between October 11 and 14 and other states were not searched. This article does not judge who won any debate.

Discussion Questions

Have you ever watched a political debate? How did it affect your view of the candidates?
When candidates meet three or four times, do later debates still help voters? Why or why not?
Should debates focus on policy only, or are a candidate’s past associations and staff fair topics?
How should a voter judge two conflicting descriptions of the same vote, as in the Epstein exchange in Georgia?
Is it fair to question a candidate about a family member’s online activity? Where would you draw the line?
Why do many Senate candidates spend so much debate time on the president, even in state races?
Does it matter that a candidate has missed votes while campaigning, as Josh Turek acknowledged?
How much should voters weigh qualifications, such as a foreign policy stumble, compared with party loyalty?
Why might a challenger like John Deaton say he never voted for the president of his own party?
Imagine you are a debate moderator. What three questions would you ask the candidates in your state’s Senate race?