Collins downplays 2020 threat: ‘Confident’ reelection would go well if she runs

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) downplayed speculation that she could lose her Senate seat in 2020, saying she’s confident she would win reelection. 

“The people of Maine have known me, and they know that I have been a hardworking, independent advocate for them, who votes with integrity,” Collins said, according to Bloomberg.

“Should I choose to seek reelection, I’m confident it will go well,” she continued. 

{mosads}Collins, who won reelection by over 30 points in 2014, now faces a tough race, which The Cook Political Report has shifted from a “lean Republican” to “toss-up” election. 

Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon (D) has launched a challenge against Collins, raising over $1 million in the first week of her campaign. 

The incumbent senator has been critical of President Trump but faced backlash in 2018 for voting to confirm now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Gideon has hit Collins over the decision, saying in her campaign launch video that it “put women’s control of their own health care decisions in extreme jeopardy.”  

She recently defended her decision, telling The New York Times last month that she did not regret her vote “in the least.”