Longtime reasonable Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine proved her endurance — once more. Collins beat Democrat and Maine Home Speaker Sara G
Longtime reasonable Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine proved her endurance — once more.
Collins beat Democrat and Maine Home Speaker Sara Gideon to win her fifth race for reelection, her hardest one in a long time. Collins’s win demonstrated that there’s nonetheless room for reasonable Republicans who broke with President Donald Trump, regardless that she’s one of many final left within the US Senate.
Gideon referred to as Collins to concede on Wednesday afternoon, Collins introduced at a press convention. With that announcement, Democrats’ already tight path to the Senate majority has shrunk additional.
Collins’s center-right positioning was the supply of her political energy in Maine. In earlier election years, Collins simply cruised to victory by 20- or 30-point margins, buoyed by a mixture of Republicans, independents, and Democrats who appreciated her willingness to buck her occasion. This race was a lot nearer, with Collins main Gideon by about eight factors. Nonetheless, her longtime model and clout in Maine ultimately received out.
Collins’ reasonable place proved harder to tug off within the hyperpolarized Trump period. Collins tried exhausting to not choose a aspect within the presidential race — she was the lone GOP senator working for reelection in 2020 to not endorse Trump outright, refusing to say whom she was voting for within the presidential election.
That model of centrism got here at a excessive value with Trump main the GOP. Whether or not Collins likes it or not, a part of her legacy is tied to the president.
“It’s actually exhausting to be a reasonable Republican in a celebration that’s a lot outlined by Trump,” mentioned New America senior fellow Lee Drutman. “It’s actually exhausting to create a political identification as a reasonable as a result of a lot of voting is nationalized, it’s partisan, and it’s an extension of your emotions in regards to the president.”
Whereas Collins ran a largely native race targeted on her Senate seniority and historical past of bringing appropriations a refund to Maine, Gideon ran a method emphasizing the nationwide political implications of the race. Democratic teams have been particularly galvanized to unseat Collins after her vote to verify controversial US Supreme Court docket Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Even earlier than Gideon introduced her marketing campaign, a $Three million pot of cash — crowdfunded by progressive Democratic teams after Collins’s controversial vote to verify Kavanaugh — was ready for whoever ended up taking over the incumbent. Collins later broke along with her occasion on Trump’s most up-to-date Supreme Court docket choose Amy Coney Barrett, changing into the one Republican senator to vote towards Barrett’s affirmation.
At the same time as she confronted a barrage of assault advertisements, Collins wager {that a} pragmatic model in her house state and the thousands and thousands she’s introduced again to Maine was sturdy sufficient for her to win reelection. Collins had a stronger home-state model than a lot of her different Republican colleagues who additionally confronted robust races this yr.
Collins has been within the Republican Occasion loads longer than Donald Trump. However whilst Trump basically altered the GOP, she hasn’t deserted it but — and continues to be left standing in it.
“There’s a purpose she’s the one Northeastern Republican left,” mentioned College of Maine political science professor Mark Brewer. “She doesn’t actually match into the Trump GOP. She was more and more an ailing match for the Republican Occasion earlier than Trump.”
Collins continues to be within the Republican Occasion, and she or he might assist form the place it goes subsequent.