10
Loading video...
By Andrew Stanton
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Senator Susan Collins’ vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh remains a sticking point in her reelection campaign in Maine’s Senate race.
Collins, a Republican, voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the High Court eight years ago in 2018, delivering a major victory to President Donald Trump’s first administration.
It was a contentious vote at the time—Democrats argued a justice should not have been confirmed so close to the midterms, citing former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to confirm a Supreme Court justice nominee in 2016, before the election. Democrats also took issue with Kavanaugh’s position on abortion rights and whether he would support overturning Roe v. Wade, which for decades guaranteed abortion rights across the country.
Read More on Politics
Collins was a key vote securing his confirmation, saying she believed he would respect precedent and not overturn the case.
That vote garnered a wave of backlash toward Collins, and millions of dollars were raised to unseat Collins in 2020 following the vote, which Democrats believed challenged the notion that she was independent from the Trump administration in a state where he has never been particularly popular.
...
But in a major show of strength, and a shock to many, the Republican senator managed to outrun that backlash in the 2020 election, when she defeated Democrat Sara Gideon with a slim majority of the vote, even as former President Joe Biden carried the state by 9 points. Whether or not voters are willing to overlook the vote again remains a central question in the outcome of the Maine Senate race, a critical toss-up that could determine the balance of power after the midterms.
Newsweek reached out to the Collins and Jackson campaigns for comment via email.
How Maine Voters View the Brett Kavanaugh Vote
As she faces another competitive reelection against Troy Jackson, who previously served as the president of the Maine Senate, Democrats are hoping Maine voters aren’t forgetting the Kavanaugh vote.
It’s been central to Jackson’s pitch that Collins is less independent than she claims, and it’s an issue Collins has faced questioning about during debates. But how much voters will really care is “difficult to determine,” Mark Brewer, professor of political science at the University of Maine in Orono, told Newsweek.
“I do think that there are some pro-choice voters who voted for Collins in the past that will not vote for her this time due at least in part to her vote to approve Kavanaugh,” he said.
The vote may be more salient this time around because Kavanaugh ended up voting to overturn Roe, defying Collins’ expectations, Brewer said.
Following the ruling, in the case Dobbs v. Jackson, numerous states moved to ban or place restrictions on abortion procedures. Abortion remains illegal in 13 states, though it is legal in Maine.
James Melcher, professor of political science at the University of Maine at Farmington, told Newsweek the Kavanaugh vote has played a “major role” in the race, and “more of one than it did in 2020.”
“That’s because Kavanaugh’s vote was so key in the Dobbs decision, and because Collins had previously indicated that she would not vote for a justice who would vote to overturn Roe,” he said. “She had said Kavanaugh considered Roe to be settled law, and professed shock when he voted as he did.”
Melcher noted that Collins “does tend to vote to approve presidential nominations in either party,” but has in general been facing criticism for voting to confirm Trump judicial nominees “with pro-life tendencies.”
“Collins has counterattacked by saying that she has been consistently pro-choice and that Jackson, who was relatively pro-life early in his career before becoming staunchly pro-choice, hasn’t been,” he said. “Jackson has run ads with women attesting to his pro-choice bonafides.”
Democrats’ ads attacking Collins over the vote have been on the airwaves in Maine over the weeks leading up to the election.
Collins Addressed Kavanaugh Vote During Debate
Collins defended her record as a pro-choice Republican during a debate against Jackson, when he pressed her on whether she believes she was “wrong” to vote for Kavanaugh.
“When I evaluate Supreme Court justice nominees, I always look at their qualifications, their experience, whether they’re fit to serve on the court. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the famous justice, said, it would be inappropriate and violate the impartiality of a judge for any nominee to predict how he or she would vote on any issue,” she said.
She said she “clearly” disagrees with how he voted in the case and noted that she voted to confirm other justices who voted to uphold Roe.
“There is only one of us on this stage who has always been pro-choice and that’s me,” she said.
She said she does not feel Kavanaugh “lied” but that he “should not have said it was settled law.”
Collins Faced Attack Ads Over Kavanaugh Vote
Democrats have run advertisements criticizing Collins for voting to confirm Kavanaugh.
One advertisement, funded by Planned Parenthood Votes, features a Maine voter named Sarah who said she has voted for Collins in the past but now regrets that decision.
“She voted to raise our healthcare costs and restrict abortion. When Susan Collins says these votes don't impact women in Maine. Of course they do. She said very recently that she doesn't even regret confirming Brett Kavanaugh, and that just is so shocking to me,” she said. “I can't take my vote back, but I will not make the same mistake twice.”
In June, Collins told The Portland Press Herald that she does not regret voting to confirm Kavanaugh.
“I do not regret that vote,” she said. “I do disagree with Justice Kavanaugh’s vote. I would point out that in that decision, several Supreme Court justices, whom I supported, voted the other way.”
Susan Collins vs. Troy Jackson: Latest Polls
A new Marist University poll underscored how competitive the race is. It gave Jackson a 2-point lead over Collins, 49 percent to 47 percent, among likely voters. It was conducted from October 22 to 25 among 1,449 registered voters, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.6 percentage points.
A Suffolk University poll gave Jackson a 2-point lead, 49 percent to 47 percent. It surveyed 500 Maine voters October 8-11 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Collins also trailed by 2 points in an InsiderAdvantage survey of 1,200 likely voters from October 13 to 14. Jackson’s support stood at 49 percent to 47 percent for Collins. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.
Jackson was up 4 points among 800 likely voters in a poll from The Washington Post and George Mason University, conducted from September 30 to October 5. Fifty percent said they planned to vote for Jackson, compared with 46 percent for Collins. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Notably, polls underestimated Collins in her 2020 reelection bid. She trailed Democrat Sara Gideon in public surveys but won with more than 50 percent of the vote.
Latest Developments in Maine Senate Race
Collins and Jackson faced off in four debates earlier in October in hopes of winning over undecided voters, who could be critical to the outcome of the race. During the debate, they discussed issues including data centers, the economy and Trump.
In the final stretch of the campaign, Collins faced criticism over a new campaign advertisement featuring famed Maine broadcaster Bill Green.
“Susan Collins is one of the most decent and honest people I know,” Green said in the ad. “Now, I also know Troy Jackson. But we're not talking about buying a cord of wood here. We're sending someone to the U.S. Senate, and Troy doesn't have the tools he needs to be effective.”
Democrats criticized the ad over the remark about buying a cord of wood.
Jackson addressed the ad in a video posted to X, calling it “out of touch.”
“I know that people like you and Senator Collins talk down to people like me, but this is about a cord of wood. It’s about an economy that Susan Collins has created that people can’t afford to heat their homes,” he said.
Jackson outraised Collins 4-to-1 in the most recent quarter, though he remains behind in overall fundraising and outside assistance.
Last week, Collins announced that the Trump administration agreed to release 315,000 barrels of home heating oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, which could help Mainers ahead of the winter, as about half the state relies on oil to heat their homes.
Early Voting Underway in Maine
In-person absentee voting began on October 5 and will continue until Thursday. Polling locations are open from 6 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., depending on a town’s population.
As of Monday, 251,036 absentee ballots had been requested and 197,104 had been returned and accepted, according to data from Maine's Secretary of State office.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Emma Lee-Sang
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines