The Democrat running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins in Maine is raising money off the prospect of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling on the incumbent Republican to vote to fill the next vacancy on the Supreme Court with another “far-right” crusader.
Sara Gideon, speaker of the Maine House, said in a fundraising email that Mr. McConnell refused to hold a confirmation vote on President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland “under the pretense of letting the American people speak in the November election.”
“But now, with Trump as President, he’s promising to fill any Supreme Court opening immediately,” Ms. Gideon said. “And McConnell knows he can count on Senator Collins’ vote here because she voted to confirm both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.”
“She’s proven she will help stack the Supreme Court with far-right, anti-choice judges – so it’s time to replace her in the Senate.”
Ms. Collins has caught flak from both the right and the leftover her Supreme Court confirmation votes.
Her decision to back Mr. Trump’s nominees came after she also gave the thumbs up to President George W. Bush’s nominations of Justices John G. Roberts and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and President Barack Obama’s nominations of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Democrats, though, are focused most of their attention on her decision to back Mr. Kavanaugh after liberal activists seized on unproven allegations of sexual misconduct in an attempt to keep him off the bench.
Before the confirmation vote, Ms. Collins picked apart the arguments against Mr. Kavanaugh in a high-profile speech on the Senate floor.
She defended the GOP’s handling of his confirmation hearing and said the accusations that Christine Blasey Ford leveled against him were compelling but lacked evidence to back up her claims.
The move infuriated the political left and put a big target on her back heading into her re-election race this fall.
Political handicappers say her race is a “toss-up.”
