Susan Collins | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2014 | |
| United States Senator from Maine | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1997 Serving with Angus King | |
| Preceded by | William Cohen |
| Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Shelby |
| Chair of the Senate Aging Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – February 3, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Bill Nelson |
| Succeeded by | Bob Casey Jr. |
| Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Corker |
| Succeeded by | Claire McCaskill |
| Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Joe Lieberman |
| Succeeded by | Tom Coburn |
| Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Joe Lieberman |
| Succeeded by | Joe Lieberman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Susan Margaret Collins December 7, 1952 Caribou, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Other political affiliations | No Labels[a] |
| Spouse |
Thomas Daffron (m. 2012) |
| Parent(s) | Donald Collins Patricia McGuigan |
| Relatives | Samuel Collins (uncle) |
| Education | St. Lawrence University (BA) |
| Website | Senate website |
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U.S. Senator from Maine
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Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress.
Born in Caribou, Maine, Collins is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Beginning her career as a staff assistant for Senator William Cohen in 1975, she became staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee of the Committee on Governmental Affairs (which later became the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs)[2] in 1981. Governor John R. McKernan Jr. then appointed her commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation in 1987. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush appointed her director of the Small Business Administration's regional office in Boston. Collins became a deputy state treasurer in the office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts in 1993.[3] After moving back to Maine in 1994, she became the Republican nominee for governor of Maine in the 1994 general election. She was the first female major-party nominee for the post, finishing third in a four-way race with 23% of the vote. After her bid for governor in 1994, she became the founding director of the Center for Family Business at Husson University in Bangor, Maine.
Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996. She was reelected in 2002, in 2008, in 2014, and in 2020. She chaired the Senate Special Committee on Aging from 2015 to 2021 and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 2003 to 2007. Collins is a senior Republican woman in the Senate, the dean of Maine's congressional delegation, and the only New England Republican in the 116th, 117th, and 118th Congresses.[4][5] As of the 118th Congress, Collins is the only Republican to represent a Northeastern state in the Senate. She has been called a moderate Republican, and is often a pivotal vote in the Senate.[6][7] To date, Collins is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate,[8][9] and since 2019, the only Republican official holding statewide office in Maine.
Collins, who has described herself as a pro-choice Republican,[10] attracted controversy for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.[11] She attributed her vote to her belief that Kavanaugh would not support overturning Roe v. Wade; in June 2022, Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe. Collins has since resisted efforts to codify Roe v. Wade.
During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Collins was one of 10 Republican senators to vote to acquit him on the first charge and one of five to vote to acquit on the second, and during the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Collins joined all Senate Republicans but one in voting to acquit him on the first charge, and all Republicans to acquit on the second. She was the only Republican senator to vote against confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. On February 13, 2021, she was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.
- ^ "No Labels now an officially recognized political party in Maine". NBC News Center Maine. January 6, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
- ^ "History – Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee". hsgac.senate.gov. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
- ^ "COLLINS, Susan Margaret". US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
- ^ "The last New England Republican in Congress, Sen. Susan Collins beckons voters to political center".
- ^ Pathé, Simone; Pathé, Simone (November 15, 2018). "Poliquin Loss Wipes Out New England Republicans in the House". Roll Call. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
- ^ Woodard, Colin (February 5, 2017). "Sen. Susan Collins develops pivotal, but uncomfortable, role as check on Trump". Press Herald. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
- ^ Kiefer, Francine (July 23, 2018). "Can the center hold? Susan Collins and the high wire act of being a moderate". The Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
- ^ Wolfe, Rob (January 3, 2021). "Collins sworn in for historic fifth term in U.S. Senate". The Portland Press Herald. South Portland, ME. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ Cochrane, Emily (November 27, 2020). "Empowered by an Odds-Defying Win, Susan Collins Is Ready to Deal". The New York Times. New York, NY. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ "Senator Collins' Statement on SCOTUS' Dobbs Decision | U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine". www.collins.senate.gov. June 24, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
- ^ Cox, Ana Marie; Journalist, Political; author (May 4, 2022). "Susan Collins' pro-Roe, pro-abortion stance was doomed by her Supreme Court votes". www.nbcnews.com. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
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