Susan Collins Says Next Term Would Be Her Last But Poor Chellie Heard That One 18 Years Ago

Bets are on that the Democrat congresswoman from southern Maine will be voting for the Republican Senate candidate come November.

Yup, it’s Chellie Pingree’s big dream to succeed the GOP’s Susan Collins in the upper chamber after languishing for 18 years in the dreaded U.S. House.

Collins told WCSH-TV earlier this week that if she wins re-election this will be her last term.

But we’ve heard that one before, such as in 1996 when Collins pledged to serve only two terms when she first ran.

Now here we are 30 years later and Collins is running for a sixth term.

Angus King, now 82, won re-election to the senate two years ago so his seat will be available in 2030, as opposed to the Collins slot which wouldn’t be open until 2032.

Chellie now may only have to wait another four years before her own party once again jettisons her for a preferred candidate.

The Democrats already turned their back on her once, in 2012 when Angus first ran. He made a deal with Democrats that he would caucus with their party despite running as an “independent” if they would campaign for him instead of for Chellie.

Democrats bought that line and so Chellie, poor Chellie, didn’t even enter the primary race on the Democrat side, where sacrificial lamb Cynthia Dill, then a state senator, won the primary against Matt Dunlap, who was a former secretary of state, before going on to get trounced by King, a former two-term governor.

So poor Chellie has seen this movie before.

As reported by WCSH, Collins told a reporter that if she wins reelection, it will be her final term.

Collins also told the TV outlet her health is good, as she pointed to her nearly 10,000 votes without missing a single one as evidence of her energy and ability to continue serving.

“In what has already been a contentious Senate race, the incumbent has now shared new details about how she is approaching her reelection campaign,” i95rocks.com reported.

Running for re-election at age 73, Collins would be 74 when a new term begins and 80 by the end of the term.

Poor Chellie might have to wait longer than she thinks because within hours of WCSH quoting Collins saying she’d be serving only one more term she backtracked, telling WMTW-TV, “Let me say that was a one-time comment to a certain reporter who asked me off camera. I was not making any kind of announcement.”

Meanwhile, “one of her potential opponents, term-limited Gov. Janet Mills, 78, has acknowledged that age is a factor but says she remains in good health and capable of serving,” said I95’s Jordan Verge.

If Chellie were to pull the lever in November for either Democrat – Mills or Graham Platner, whichever one wins the primary – she’d be ensuring that seat would be unavailable until the ending of time.

So in the secrecy of the voting booth, bet on Chellie being naive enough to be taking Collins at her last-term word – and turning red.