Vice President JD Vance used a campaign stop in Brewer, Maine, to heap praise on Sen. Susan Collins as a tireless advocate for her state, even though Collins skipped the event and has broken with her party on several high-profile votes this year.

Vance traveled to the small manufacturing city on Monday to rally support for former Gov. Paul LePage's bid for Maine's 2nd Congressional District. But before he turned to LePage's race, the vice president spent several minutes talking up Collins, calling her "my dear friend" and "our very independent friend" in front of the crowd at a local manufacturing facility.

The warm words land at a complicated moment. Collins is up for reelection and faces Democrat Troy Jackson. She has bucked the GOP on votes that drew national attention, opposing Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general and siding with Democrats in April on an Iran war powers resolution. Yet Vance chose to frame that independence not as disloyalty but as proof Collins puts Maine first.

Vance called Collins the Senate's "most independent member", and meant it as a compliment

In his opening remarks, Vance leaned into Collins's reputation for crossing party lines, a trait that frustrates many Republicans but plays well in a purple state. The Washington Examiner reported that Vance acknowledged the friction her independence causes him in his role as president of the Senate.

"And whenever I'm in Maine, I got to give Susan a little bit of crap, because as you know, Susan is the most independent member of the United States Senate, and as the president of the United States Senate, she sometimes makes my job just a little bit harder."

He followed that with an extended defense of her work ethic, saying Collins visits the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory regularly, "probably a half dozen times", and always zeroes in on how policy affects her constituents.

Vance's public embrace of Collins fits a broader pattern. His midterm campaign blitz has taken him across the country in recent months, and protecting incumbent Republican senators is central to the party's strategy for holding its majority.

"She's always asking, 'What does this do for Maine? How is this good for Maine? How is this bad for Maine?' And she tries to get as much good for this state out of Washington and as little bad out of Washington for this state."

Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to retake the chamber, a steep climb, but one that makes every Republican-held seat a target. Collins, who has won reelection in a state that leans blue at the presidential level, sits near the top of any Democratic wish list.

Collins wasn't there, and her campaign offered a scheduling explanation

Collins did not attend the Brewer event. Her campaign spokesman, Blake Kernan, cited a personal scheduling conflict when the Washington Examiner asked about her absence. Kernan also pointed to Collins's working relationship with Vance as evidence the two remain aligned despite occasional policy disagreements.

The absence is notable given the effort Vance put into praising her. He described her attention to legislative detail in personal terms, saying he had "never seen a person who is more attuned to the details of every single thing." That kind of endorsement from the vice president carries weight, especially in a cycle where Republican incumbents in swing states need every advantage.

Vance has been a visible presence on the national stage well beyond his Senate duties. He has made headlines with candid public remarks on topics from faith and politics to wide-ranging media interviews, building a profile that extends past his constitutional role.

Collins's recent breaks with the GOP explain the awkward dance

The political backdrop makes Vance's praise more than routine courtesy. Earlier this month, Collins announced she would oppose the confirmation of Todd Blanche for attorney general, a direct break with the White House on a cabinet-level pick. In April, she voted with Democrats to advance an Iran war powers resolution aimed at withdrawing American forces, splitting from most Republican senators on a foreign policy question the party's leadership treated as a loyalty test.

Those votes have not gone unnoticed. But President Trump endorsed Collins's reelection bid in June, when she was expected to face a primary challenge from Graham Platner. Platner later exited the race after reports surfaced about controversial behavior with past girlfriends that eroded his support. With no serious primary threat remaining, Collins heads into the general election with the party's official backing intact, even if her voting record makes some conservatives uneasy.

Vance's decision to praise Collins so publicly suggests the administration has made a calculated choice: keeping Collins in the fold matters more than punishing her for individual votes. That is a pragmatic call. Losing a Senate seat in Maine to a Democrat would make the math for confirming judges, passing budgets, and advancing any legislative priority significantly harder.

The vice president's willingness to appear in unfriendly settings and speak plainly has become a hallmark of his public style. Applying that same directness to a complicated intra-party relationship, praising a senator who sometimes votes against you, in her home state, while she isn't even in the room, takes a different kind of political confidence.

Monday's visit was Vance's second trip to Maine in recent months, following a May stop. The stated purpose was to champion LePage's congressional campaign, but the Collins remarks consumed a significant portion of his opening comments, a signal that shoring up her reelection is a White House priority, not an afterthought.

The Vance family has drawn its own share of public attention this year, but the vice president's political travel schedule shows where his professional focus lies: protecting the Republican majority one state at a time.

Holding the majority means tolerating a maverick

Collins has built a career on independence, and that independence has a cost. Conservative voters who want a senator who votes the party line every time will not find one in Collins. But the alternative, handing the seat to a Democrat, would bring Republicans one step closer to losing the chamber entirely.

Vance framed the tradeoff in the most favorable light possible, telling the Brewer crowd that Collins "comes to work every single day, and she fights for the great people of Maine." He called her job "a very hard job" and said she does "an amazing job."

Whether Maine voters agree will determine one of the cycle's most closely watched Senate races. Democrats see the seat as gettable. Republicans see it as essential. And the vice president of the United States just made clear which side of that fight he's on, even if the senator he was praising couldn't be bothered to show up.

In politics, you don't always get to pick your allies. Sometimes you just have to keep the ones who keep winning.