U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is walking back a comment made to a local TV reporter saying that she would only serve one more term if elected in November.

The Republican reportedly made the comment off-camera to a News Center Maine reporter after a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire station in Sanford on Tuesday.

When asked to confirm the statement, campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick said Collins was making “an offhand comment, not a formal declaration.”

“Maine has a once-in-a-century opportunity to reelect the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senator Collins is focused on the work that she does for Maine, not the 2032 election,” Roderick said.  

The Maine Democratic Party criticized Collins for her mixed messaging.

“Susan Collins really got us with this one,” party spokesperson Kristi Johnston said. “One day she’s saying this would be her final term, the next day she’s already backing off it. Mainers are used to this play by now — she says one thing, then does another. She can’t even be up front about something as basic as how long she plans to serve and that tells Mainers everything they need to know.”

The clarification comes as some voters in Maine are clamoring for generational change. Collins is 73.

Collins dismissed concerns about her age, noting that she has never missed a Senate vote.

“That pretty well speaks to my energy and my health,” Collins said. “Anyone who follows me around the state would also not have any questions about that. So I’ve been blessed with good health, a lot of energy, and I think my voting record shows that.”

Age is also a factor in the Democratic primary for Senate.

Gov. Janet Mills, 78, would be the oldest freshman senator in history, though the upper chamber has members older than her. Her opponent, Graham Platner, a political newcomer, is 41.

Mills has pledged to serve only one term if elected.

Platner has advocated for term limits, which would require a constitutional amendment, and has criticized Collins for saying during her first campaign that she would only serve two terms if elected. She has served five and counting.

In Fort Kent last week, Platner told a town hall audience that he hoped to rebuild the seniority that would be lost by ousting Collins.

“The only caveat to that is: Unless we can impose term limits, at which point I will happily leave whenever the term limits we impose come,” Platner said. “I’m not going to self-impose term limits. Susan Collins did that once and she lied.”