Susan Collins discloses 'essential tremor' diagnosis to explain shaking

Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) said Wednesday that she has a benign essential tremor, telling a local news outlet that she has had it for the length of her nearly 30-year Senate career.

The revelation comes amid broader scrutiny of older candidates’ age and health after President Joe Biden ended his 2024 campaign amid questions about his health. Collins, 73, is running for a sixth term in the Senate.

“What I have is an extremely common condition that is called a benign essential tremor,” the senator told News Center Maine in an interview. “I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate. It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day.”

Collins, in a separate statement to The Washington Post, said the tremor “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 said in the statement.

Collins’s tremor recently received considerable negative attention online after it was evident in her campaign announcement video.

The Maine Senate race is key to Republicans’ quest to retain control of the Senate, with Collins representing the most vulnerable GOP incumbent up for reelection this year. Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) ended her Senate campaign after a series of polls showed her trailing Graham Platner, an oyster farm owner who is running as an insurgent.

“It’s a very common neurological condition that tends to run in families. And for most patients, essential tremor is benign. It’s kind of a minor annoyance,” said Michael D. Fox, a neurologist at Mass General Brigham Hospital in Boston. "This does not impact most patients’ ability to do their job.”

Fox said that while there is debate within the neurological research community about the impact a benign essential tremor has on someone’s cognitive abilities, “the cognitive effects are likely either subtle or nonexistent, and many patients will not have any cognitive effects of a central tremor at all."

Platner has also discussed his struggles with health publicly. The 41-year-old veteran has said he has a 100 percent disability rating with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I’ve got a couple herniated discs. My shoulder’s a wreck. My knees bother me. The VA gives me physical therapy for those things. I was also diagnosed with PTSD,” he told News Center Maine last year.

Platner, in a separate interview, said his injuries would not hinder his ability to serve as senator. "There are a lot of disabled combat or just disabled vets at 100 percent who still work,” he said.