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 \u201cfar-right\u201d crusader.<\/p>\n

Sara Gideon, speaker of the Maine House, said in a fundraising email that Mr. McConnell refused to hold a confirmation vote on President Obama\u2019s nominee Merrick Garland \u201cunder the pretense of letting the American people speak in the November election.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, with Trump as President, he\u2019s promising to fill any Supreme Court opening immediately,\u201d Ms. Gideon said. \u201cAnd McConnell knows he can count on Senator Collins\u2019 vote here because she voted to confirm both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s proven she will help stack the Supreme Court with far-right, anti-choice judges \u2013 so it\u2019s time to replace her in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Collins has caught flak from both the right and the leftover her Supreme Court confirmation votes.<\/p>\n

Her decision to back Mr. Trump\u2019s nominees came after she also gave the thumbs up to President George W. Bush\u2019s nominations of Justices John G. Roberts and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and President Barack Obama\u2019s nominations of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Before the confirmation vote, Ms. Collins picked apart the arguments against Mr. Kavanaugh in a high-profile speech on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

She defended the GOP\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The move infuriated the political left and put a big target on her back heading into her re-election race this fall.<\/p>\n

Political handicappers say her race is a \u201ctoss-up.\u201d<\/p>\n