Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) bid to be re-elected was clinging to life support just a few short weeks ago.
Now Collins, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, is suddenly surging in new polls, indicating that she will likely secure her seat on Capitol Hill once again.
But what happened?
It started with the Democrats vying to challenge Collins for her seat.
Maine Governor Janet Mills and candidate Graham Platner (who was backed by Bernie Sanders), were locked in an anticipated, tight Democratic primary a couple of weeks ago.
However, revelations of Platner’s ties to a pro-Nazi propaganda have since surfaced in recent weeks, all be securing that Mills will run against Collins.
And new polls show that Collins’ favorability has soared.
EMILY’s List, which is supporting Mills in the primary, commissioned a poll from Impact Research that found Mills would lose to Collins with just 42% of the vote. But that’s only when respondents were given “balanced information” about the candidates.
When “additional information” was given about the Platner — such as quotes from deleted social media posts where he called himself a communist, and his Nazi symbol tattoo — Collins’ lead climbs to 57%.
Either way you slice it, Collins is still the odd-on favorite to win re-election.
“The statements include quotes from Platner’s posts, including his history of stoking political violence, use of homophobic slurs, and offensive views towards law enforcement and sexual assault victims,” a memo from EMILY’s List stated.
The poll was taken among 700 likely voters from October 22 to 27, with a 3.7% margin of error.
Platner has remained in the race despite the wave of negative headlines and most recently spoke out against the Democrats who backed the deal to reopen the federal government, even calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to “step down.”
Collins voted “yes” to reopen the government, along with fellow Democrats who joined Republicans.
“This short-term continuing resolution would reopen government immediately, provide back pay to all federal workers, and fund important federal programs on which many Americans rely,” Collins, who is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote on X.
However, Mills said Collins “voted against extending ACA subsidies,” as an amendment to continue the Obamacare subsidies for another year was shot down by Senate Republicans.
“This vote is a betrayal of Maine people, and it will send health care costs through the roof. While I have fought to expand health care and to make it more affordable, Senator Collins and Republicans in Washington are doing the opposite,” Mills posted on X.
Collins’ sudden surge due to the Democratic turmoil comes after weeks of unimpressive support from Maine voters.
As previously reported by The Horn News, Collins’ overall approval rating amongst Maine voters was at an all-time low.
As part of its quarterly poll of Senator’s approval ratings, Morning Consult showed the favorability of the longtime Maine senator, now 72, to be the worst ever.
At one point, 54% of Maine voters disapproved of Collins’ job performance, marking a high point for her disapproval in the Morning Consult survey’s eight-year history.
However, that trend now appears to be reversing as voters are souring on Democrats challenging Collins.