Collins says she plans to reveal reelection plans ‘this week’

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will announce this week whether she will run for reelection next year.

“This week, yes,” she confirmed in an interview with Politico Tuesday. “This will be the end of fall, which is what I said.” 

Collins, a centrist four-term senator who remains a household name in Maine, had set a self-imposed deadline of announcing her 2020 plans by the end of autumn, which technically ends on Saturday.

“Senator Collins does expect to announce her decision on whether or not to run for re-election this week,” a spokesperson from her campaign confirmed to The Hill.

Maine’s Senate race next year is expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation as Democrats seek to unseat Collins in a state that will also be hotly contested at the presidential level.

Republicans maintain that Collins is the GOP’s best chance to keep the seat in the purple state, but Democrats see a unique opening to seize on anti-Trump fervor among Democrats as well as Collins’s controversial votes to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and pass President Trump’s tax plan.

Collins is facing off against Maine state House Speaker Sara Gideon, for whom Democrats have announced full-throated support. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, rates the race as a “toss-up.”

While Collins has yet to officially announce her 2020 plans, her campaign has been raising money and releasing ads leading up to her expected run.