MAINE — U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine publicly addressed her benign essential tremor and said the condition does not affect her ability to serve, as she campaigns for a sixth term in 2026. The Republican, 73, treats the condition with medication that sometimes causes her hands, arms and head to tremble.

Collins, who was first elected in 1996 and is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, has not missed a vote in three decades in office. "I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate," she said. "It was an extremely common condition," she added. "It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day."

She said she was confident in her ability to serve another six-year term and said her voting record was "pretty good evidence of the fact that I am blessed with great health." "If you talk to anybody in Washington, they will tell you that I am the hardest-working person that they have ever worked with. It's inconvenient at times, but that's all."

According to the Mayo Clinic, essential tremor is a neurological condition that causes rhythmic shaking that cannot be controlled, is most common in people over 40, can worsen over time, and is sometimes wrongly confused with Parkinson's disease. The trembling most often affects the hands and occurs especially during simple tasks such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.

Rees Cosgrove, chief of the division of functional neurosurgery at Mass General Brigham health system, said about 5% of adults over 40 have some form of essential tremor, rising to 20% in those over 65. "It's not associated with other neurologic impairments," Cosgrove said. "So, it's not associated with cognitive decline or memory decline. It's not associated with Alzheimer's disease. It's not Parkinson's."

Collins announced her re-election bid in February. Campaign launch videos showed visible shaking in her hands and a warble in her voice. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein posted a video of Collins shaking on X and asked, "Can we talk about how 73-year-old Senator Susan Collins is clearly in physical decline?"

She faces a tight race against Democrat Graham Platner, a military veteran. Polls collated by RealClearPolitics give Platner a single-digit advantage less than six months before polling day. Janet Mills, the former Maine governor and previous Democratic frontrunner, suspended her Senate campaign last week. Democrats view Maine as a state that could flip control of the Senate in November.

Platner has noted that during her 1996 campaign Collins said she would serve only two terms. "Twelve years is long enough to be in public service, make a contribution, and then come home and let someone else take the play," she said at the time. In 2021, she was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump after his second impeachment for inciting the deadly 6 January Washington DC riot.