This week, Senator Susan Collins lost the public support of what may be her most prominent former endorser yet: Senator Angus King. King is hardly the first former Collins endorser to announce that he will no longer be publicly supporting her. Mainers all over the state who voted for Collins in the past have shared why they’ve turned against her this year.
But losing the public support of Maine’s most popular Senator was hardly the only bad news for Collins this week. Check out the highlights:
SUNDAY: Collins’ Super PAC Releases Internal Poll That Showed Her Losing By 10 Points
Senator Collins’ abysmal week started when 1820 PAC, the shady dark money group formed to prop up her campaign, released an internal poll from earlier this year that showed her losing by 10 points. For the record: if your dark money allies have to spin a 10 point deficit as a sign of a comeback, your campaign might be in panic mode.
MONDAY: Kavanaugh Proves Collins’ Claims About His Stance On LGBTQ+ Equality Were False
After Collins claimed that Brett Kavanaugh would defend LGBTQ+ rights, he authored a dissenting opinion in this week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling for LGBTQ+ rights arguing that it should be legal for employers to fire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Kavanaugh’s dissent proved what LGBTQ+ advocates have been saying all along: Senator Collins misled Mainers about his stance on equality for all.
WEDNESDAY: Collins Tried To Backpedal On Her Record Of Confirming Another Unqualified, Anti-Health Care Judge
Collins tried to erase her record of voting to confirm unqualified, anti-health care Mitch McConnell protégé Justin Walker, but Mainers won’t forget her vote to confirm him last year after he received a rating of “Not Qualified” from the American Bar Association.
WEDNESDAY: Collins Got A New Challenger, And This One Is Coming For Her Base
Independent Senate candidate Max Linn qualified for the general election ballot. The new challenger, likely to siphon off votes from the right, is “not helpful” for Senator Collins, according to Sun Journal reporter Steve Collins.
THURSDAY: Kavanaugh Rules Against DREAMers
In a second devastating blow to her justification for voting to confirm him, Brett Kavanaugh authored another dissenting opinion, this time arguing in favor of the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA. Collins has tied her legacy to Kavanaugh, and his extreme rulings will continue to weigh her campaign down all the way through November.
THURSDAY: Financial Disclosures Reveal Collins And Her Husband Have Profited Off Of Opioid Crisis
An examination of Collins’ financial disclosures uncovered the fact that she and her husband have been profiting off of companies fueling Maine’s opioid crisis for years. This makes Collins’ record of voting against accountability for opioid manufacturers all the more troubling as Maine voters demand to know: Is she still making money off of the crisis ravaging our communities?
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