Steve Abbott: Chief of staff, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)

Not many people know Maine as well as Sen. Susan Collins (R) — but her chief of staff might be one of the select few.

During the 29 years Collins has served in the upper chamber, Steve Abbott has been a constant presence alongside, leading her office for 25 of those years — and all the while serving as one of her most trusted aides. 

To the longtime Maine moderate, Abbott’s counsel is about as close to indispensable as it gets. 

"He is extraordinarily insightful, knowledgeable about Maine and amazingly proficient in both politics and policy. That's an unusual combination to have someone who is so knowledgeable in both spheres,” Collins said in an interview. “His instincts are terrific. His knowledge of the state of Maine is unsurpassed.”

Collins noted that the pair on occasion will play a game where they rattle off the names of small towns across Maine and challenge each other to match it to the correct county. 

“He can always match me and sometimes even exceeds my knowledge,” Collins said. 

The two met when Abbott offered to volunteer for Collins’s 1994 primary bid for the Maine governorship. He eventually decided to take a leave of absence from his law firm to run her campaign. She ended up emerging from an eight-way primary but eventually lost the general to Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). 

But Abbott was back shortly after to lead her 1996 Senate bid and has been her campaign manager for every reelection bid since.  He is also in the midst of his second stint as chief, having stepped away for four years to seek the Maine governorship in 2010 and become the athletic director at the University of Maine-Orono. 

Notably, Abbott is one of the exceedingly rare staffers on Capitol Hill who commutes weekly as a senator does. He is in Washington from Monday until the chamber wraps work for the week, then retreats to Portland. 

“I just love living in Maine,” Abbott said. “It’s just a really special place. It’s not always the most convenient thing on those cold winter mornings to be getting up in the dark and be trudging out to the airport to catch a 5:30 a.m. flight to D.C., but the payback is huge and it has been for us.” 

“It just keeps you so much in touch [and] attuned to what’s going on in the state — what people care about, what they’re worried about and what they need,” Abbott said. “That’s a great benefit and I think it keeps you grounded too.”