Maine’s shrewd senior U.S. senator may be able to play off President Trump’s anger towards her to win re-election.
If Sen. Susan Collins follows that strategy she may be able to counterbalance Trump’s criticism of her.
That’s the argument being posited by Politico, a leading national political-reporting outlet.
Collins came under fire last week from Trump for voting to curb his war powers, a move that drew swift criticism from the president.
Trump said she should “never be elected again.”It’s far from the first time that Trump has come down on Collins for, in his view, abandoning the MAGA (conservative) wing of the Republican party.
Collins, who has yet to announce whether she will seek a sixth term, has for decades been able to thread the political needle by balancing conservative and liberal politics in blue Maine.
Since Trump lost the state in the last election, the fact he is not on the ballot in the midterms may actually play to Collins’ advantage, according to political analysts.
Should Collins seek reelection she is likely to face either term-limited Gov. Janet Mills or military vet GrahamPllatner on the Democrat ticket.
“Her bid will rely on a coalition that includes independents and Democrats, many of whom have backed her in the past because of her breaks from Trump and other GOP leaders,” Politico reports. “But she also needs to turn out Trump’s MAGA base in a year he won’t be on the ticket to juice turnout – a tougher challenge if they’re actively feuding.”
In her 1994 unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, Collins received little support from Republican leaders and was criticized by conservative groups for her more liberal views on social issues.
She lost that election to “independent” Angus King, who ended up being a two-term governor and is now her junior colleague in the upper chamber.
It was the last time Collins lost an election.
Since then, she has been able to fend off opponents from not only her own party but from the Democrats to hold on to her senate seat.
Yet Collins’ current Maine approval ratings are as low as Trump’s.
Amid Collins’ latest kerfuffle with Trump, she finds herself “fighting for her political life at a time when she should be at the pinnacle of her political career,” according to a podcast called MaineNewsroom.
Worse for Collins, perhaps, is the Republican view that they “will hold the Senate with or without Collins,” according to Politico.
That wisdom leaves Democrats salivating, aiming to take her out of the mix altogether in their bid to rule the Senate once again.
