What we learned from heated US midterm Senate debates

Susan Collins, a Maine Republican running for her sixth term in the Senate who has repeatedly broken with Trump, is again putting clear distance between herself and the president. "I voted with President Biden 91% of the time," Collins said during a debate last week."The fact is, this year alone, this Congress alone, I voted against President Trump 137 times," she said.Collins is fighting a tighter Senate race than she expected against Democrat Troy Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate. A New York Times/Siena University poll from mid-September suggests Collins could be ahead in that race by 3%, while others indicate Jackson is in the lead.Getty ImagesJosh Turek (L) and Ashley HinsonElsewhere, some Republican candidates are choosing to separate themselves from the Trump administration's specific policy decisions, while expressing loyalty to Trump himself.In Iowa, traditionally a Republican stronghold, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is facing a tougher-than-expected challenge in her Senate race.She is taking on Democrat Josh Turek, and some polls suggest he has a narrow lead.