Two powerful political forces – Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and South Boston state Sen. Nick Collins – could be on a collision course, with speculation swirling that she would like to target Collins in next year’s election.

After crushing her opponents this year, including defeating conservative council candidate Frank Baker, Wu could turn to taking out Collins as her next big political mission.

And given Wu’s growing political power and her penchant for aggressively challenging her opponents, Collins is paying attention.

“Would she like to get him out of there? Probably,” one plugged in city insider said.

“She wants to defeat him,” another political insider with knowledge of the spat said.

Collins was responsible for Wu’s biggest and only political loss of her first term, the defeat of

See Full Page