After months of trailing Democrat opponent Sara Gideon by five to 10 percentage points in nearly all polls, Republican Sen. Susan Collins appeared to be on the rebound last week — and in a major way.
According to a just-completed Bangor Daily News poll, Gideon, who is the state House speaker, is in a near tie with four-termer Collins — 44% to 43% for the Democrat, with 3% going to two independent candidates.
The Bangor survey was conducted at the same time Collins had announced she would vote against President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. In joining with fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski to oppose Barrett, Collins made clear her reason was she felt such an appointment should be made after the election.
Two years ago, Collins suffered tremendous political fallout after playing a pivotal role in the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Although the senator is pro-choice, many pro-choice groups abandoned her over the Kavanaugh vote and now support Gideon.
Planned Parenthood, which two years ago gave Collins its Barry Goldwater Award for political courage, is now in the Gideon camp.
For a time, it seemed the Republican senator was most likely to lose this fall. With less than a month to go before Election Day, this has apparently changed.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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