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

“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,” Kathleen Marra, the state Democratic Party chairperson, said in a statement. “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 covering 471 votes since Trump took office for which his position was clear shows Collins bucked the president 48 times, giving her a presidential unity score of nearly 90 percent.

But the average for Senate Republicans was 97 percent, and Kentucky’s Rand Paul was the only GOP senator with a lower presidential unity score than Collins during that time. Paul, who is not on the ballot this year, is speaking at the GOP convention Tuesday night.

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 high court is often touted by Trump as one of his biggest accomplishments in office.

Collins had $5.5 million in cash on hand to Gideon’s $5.4 million as of June 30, according to Federal Election Commission records. Overall, Gideon raised $24.2 million compared to Collins’ $16.9 million through June 30, and Gideon also received a transfer of more than $3.7 million after securing the Democratic nomination last moth. That money was donated in 2018 by people outraged over the Kavanaugh vote who wanted it to go to Collins’ opponent this year.