Pop-Up Action: Peaceably Assemble to Petition Absentee Senator Susan Collins for Redress of Grievances

Where: Outside the Samoset Resort, At the Corner of Waldo Ave. and Samoset Rd. in Rockport, stretching along Waldo Ave. and Samoset Rd. (Park in the Shaw’s Plaza)

When: Gather at 5 PM on Sunday, October 25, 2026

Why: Despite multiple invitations, Senator Susan Collins has refused for years to hold any public meeting with constituents in Knox County.

• In Spring of 2017, a civic group of concerned citizens in Knox County invited Senator Susan Collins to meet for a public town hall at any time of her choosing. Senator Collins first evaded the invitation, citing scheduling difficulties, then outright refused to meet in public with the people of Knox County for the entire four-year first presidential term of Donald Trump.
• On March 1, 2025, members of The Audacity peacefully gathered at the Knox County Courthouse to air 75 grievances regarding deeply concerning political developments since the second inauguration of Donald Trump (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R53r77B4syc). Following this gathering, The Audacity gathered signatures from 1,089 residents of Knox County (link: https://audacityspace.org/petition-for-an-open-public-town-hall-in-knox-county-maine-with-our-congressional-representatives/) requesting that our representatives in Congress — Rep. Chellie Pingree, Sen. Angus King, and Sen. Susan Collins — each hold a public town hall in Knox County to listen to and reply to their constituents’ questions and concerns. We sent this petition to Rep. Pingree, Sen. King, and Sen. Collins in the first week of April 2025. Rep. Chellie Pingree promptly agreed to, and held, an open public town hall on Sunday, April 13, 2025. Sen. King’s office twice told us they’d get back to us when his schedule allowed… and never did. Sen. Susan Collins’ office not only has failed to agree to hold a town hall in the nearly 600 days since our invitation, but has also failed to respond in any way, shape, or form to the communication, even to acknowledge its existence.

Despite refusing to acknowledge or meet with the citizens of Knox County in public, Senator Susan Collins will be attending a private, invitation-only party with her ultra-wealthy donors at the Samoset Resort on Sunday, October 25, attending between 6-7 pm.

Senator Collins’ utter disinterest in public meetings with her constituents comes at a time when, thanks to her actions or lack of actions, we face a crashing economy, a record-high budget deficit, the revocation of constitutional rights, the disappearance and torture of people who have committed no crimes, unauthorized wars and proxy wars that have killed thousands of innocent civilians, the elevation of the presidency above the law, the targeting of people of color, women and trans people, the revocation of women’s right to control their own bodies, environmental degradation, a collapse of democratic norms, and a record-low confidence in the ability of our democratic institutions to act in the public interest.

Since Senator Susan Collins has refused to hold a public meeting with her constituents in Knox County while she parties privately with her wealthy campaign funders, we the residents of Knox County will meet Senator Collins where she is on Sunday, in our own town, peaceably and nonviolently assembling as guaranteed to us by the First Amendment to petition Senator Susan Collins for redress of our many grievances.

Join us. Make democracy work.

Bring: friends and neighbors, a sign, a candle to light and hold, your voice (this is not a silent demonstration), and bright clothing to help you be seen

Don’t Bring: items or behaviors intended to escalate the situation toward violence. Even if it’s legal for you to carry a weapon, leave your weapons at home and help keep the demonstration fully expressive but nonviolent. We will have yellow-vested peacekeepers in the crowd trained in situational response. We strongly suggest you avoid responding to provocateurs (it’s what they want) and seek help from a yellow-vested peacekeeper instead.