After Senator Susan Collins dodged multiple times today when asked if she’s supporting Donald Trump’s re-election, new reporting from NEWS CENTER Maine and Roll Call digs into the dynamics of her 618 day streak of refusing to be honest with Mainers about her support for the President.

 

Maine GOP Chair Kouzounas made news when she confirmed that Collins and Trump “both support each other,” undermining Collins’ months-long claim that she’s staying out of presidential politics. But when asked by not one, but two, interviewers today, Collins continued to refuse to answer questions about whether she’s voting to reelect Trump.

 

NEWS CENTER Maine: ‘I’m concentrating on my own race’: Collins dodges question about supporting Trump

 

By Gabrielle Mannino

August 25, 2020

 

Key Points:

 

  • Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is fighting to keep her Senate seat in one of the country’s most notable races, said Tuesday she’s focusing on her own race, again offering no indication of whether she is supporting President Donald Trump.

 

  • Collins was in Bangor Tuesday afternoon to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Disabled American Veterans at the Cole Land Transportation Museum. At the event, she spoke with NEWS CENTER Maine about the presidential race, one day after her party officially nominated Trump at the Republican National Convention.

 

  • When asked whether she is supporting Trump in his reelection campaign, Collins dodged the question, saying, “You know, I’m concentrating on my own race, you may have noticed it’s a pretty vigorous race this year.”

 

  • It’s a sentiment she’s repeated for months, despite being endorsed by the President.

 

  • In December, Trump endorsed Collins in the Senate race, but Collins has refused to say how she will vote come November. She has said, however, that she would not attack Biden.

 

  • On Monday during a call with reporters ahead of the Republican convention, Maine GOP Party Chair Dr. Demi Kouzounas said, "I'm a huge Trumpster...and also a huge Susan Collins supporter. They are not mutually exclusive. They both have their jobs to do. They both support each other."

 

  • But the Maine Democratic Party isn’t backing down and has continued to push the issue to Maine voters.

 

  • Maine Dems Party Chair Kathleen Marra said, “Her continued refusal to give an honest answer to this straightforward question is all the evidence voters need that after 24 years in Washington, Collins is more interested in playing politics than telling the truth.”

 

  • Meanwhile, Collins' Democratic Senate opponent Sara Gideon has been endorsed by former Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden, which Gideon has reciprocated.

 

Roll Call: Sen. Susan Collins supports Trump, head of Maine GOP says

 

By Chris Marquette

August 25, 2020

 

Key Points:

 

  • Sen. Susan Collins may be absent from this week’s Republican National Convention, but she supports President Donald Trump, according to the head of Maine’s Republican Party.

 

  • Maine GOP Chairperson Demi Kouzounas — when asked on a call arranged by a Trump campaign committee about Collins’ absence from the convention — said Monday that Collins supports Trump.

 

  • “They’re not mutually exclusive. I think they both have their jobs to do. They both support each other,” Kouzounas said on a Trump Victory call with reporters. 

 

  • Representatives for Collins, a Maine Republican who is one of the most vulnerable senators running this year, did not respond to requests for comment. But the campaign of her Democratic opponent, state House Speaker Sara Gideon, did.  

 

  • “Despite her refusal to tell Mainers who she’s voting for, Senator Collins has made her opinion on Donald Trump clear,” Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for Gideon, said in an email to CQ Roll Call.

 

  • Collins, who was elected to the Senate 1996, has not taken a stance on whom she plans to back for president. She opposed Trump in 2016 when she wasn’t up for re-election. “I didn't have my own race to worry about at that point,” she told reporters in July.

 

  • Gideon voted for, and endorsed, former Vice President Joe Biden in the Maine presidential primary back in March.

 

  • The Maine Democratic Party seized on the comments by Kouzounas.

 

  • “Senator Collins may be able to skip her party’s convention, but she can’t escape her record of having voted with Trump 94% of the time,” said Kathleen Marra, the state Democratic Party chairperson. “With even the head of her party confirming that she supports Trump, Maine voters can see through this flimsy facade, and they’re ready to replace both Collins and Trump this November.”

 

  • Marra was citing data for Collins' votes in 2017 and 2018. CQ Vote Watch data for 471 votes where Trump's position was clear since he took office showed Collins’ bucked the president 48 times for a presidential unity score of nearly 90 percent.

 

  • Collins cast a key vote in 2018 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh’s confirmation process was rocked by an allegation of sexual assault dating to his time in high school. His placement on the highest court is often touted by Trump as one of his biggest accomplishments in office.


 

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