Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is responding after a viral internet clip of her violently shaking during an interview with Fox News posted on Tuesday.
In Collins' explanation, it's a non-threatening medical condition she has lived with for decades.
Collins, 73, told Semafor's Burgess Everett that she has “an essential tremor, which I have had throughout the entire time I have served in the United States Senate. This benign condition, which affects approximately 1 in 20 people over the age of 40, does not interfere at all with my ability to do my job."
"The tremor is occasionally inconvenient, and sometimes the subject of cruel comments online, but it does not hinder my ability to work and, as I said, is something that I have lived with for decades,” Collins continued.
All of this comes amid a wider debate in both parties about the wisdom of older members of Congress continuing to run for office well over retirement age, which was catapulted into the forefront once again last month after Rep. David Scott (D-GA) died in office after 50 years on Capitol Hill.
It also comes as President Donald Trump, nearing the age of 80, faces increasingly concerning questions about his own health.
2026 Watch-New on @FoxNews - Asked during a stop at a food bank in Harrison, Maine if Democratic rival @grahamformaine is too far to the left, @SenSusanCollins tells me "I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters but obviously I don’t take anything for granted" pic.twitter.com/8lAN285tng
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) May 5, 2026
