Americans across the country rely on Maine’s senior U.S. senator to act as the calm, pragmatic voice of reason they can trust to focus on results over rhetoric in Washington, and now they’re counting on Maine voters to do the same.

In an age of polarizing politics and backroom deals, a senator who can earn the same high degree of respect among her Capitol Hill colleagues as with her constituents back home is not only scarce but priceless when it comes to creating real progress for Mainers and Americans alike.

Sen. Susan Collins has earned this results-driven reputation. Her leadership on energy affordability and reliability while advancing sustainable, climate-smart policies, garnered nearly 69% of the vote during her last election. And she’s continued delivering results, including cosponsoring the Great American Outdoors Act that secured funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and addresses maintenance backlogs at the nation’s public parks, wildlife refuges and forest lands.

Through our respective work in Augusta and Washington to support responsible, conservative solutions for energy, economic and environmental security challenges, we’ve had the pleasure of seeing first-hand how Sen. Collins not only improves the lives of her constituents but improves the work of her fellow policymakers in Congress.

Susan Collins has long been one of Maine’s and the Senate’s most steadfast clean energy and climate champions. Her leadership on policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, fighting climate change, advancing clean energy technologies and protecting Maine’s natural environment is second to none. She is a long-time champion for harnessing renewable energy, working to secure our electric grid, grow wind and solar jobs and reduce energy costs for everyone. She looks to the future as well, supporting federal investments in new technologies that will enhance our ability to harness renewable energy sources, such as her introduction last year of the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act, to develop next-generation energy storage technologies for a carbon-free grid.

Her work mitigating climate change is not only forward-looking but also pragmatic and responsible. Unlike so many politicians, she refuses simply throw blank checks at the climate crisis, shackling our children with unsustainable debt. Instead, take for example her co-sponsorship of the Super Pollutants Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation that enables the federal government to set-up a taskforce alongside businesses and non-profits to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants. Or her work with neighboring Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) on the Home Energy Savings Act and the New Home Energy Efficiency Act, which seeks to lower energy costs for families and encourage energy efficiency.

In these and so many other pieces of critical legislation, Sen. Collins looks for solutions grounded in what makes Americans, and especially Mainers, so uniquely special: a can-do attitude, willing to tackle the most difficult challenges; a willingness to help your neighbor with no thought of reward; and a belief that there’s no problem so large that a bit of ingenuity and a lot of hard work can’t solve.

As we look ahead towards a post-pandemic economy, now, more than ever we need to invest in clean, low-emitting energy technologies and we need representatives in Washington who will stand up for the workers who make a clean energy future possible. During the recent COVID stimulus negotiations, Sen. Collins joined a handful of Republicans in signing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that encouraged Republican leadership to consider ways to bolster America’s clean energy workforce in a relief package.

Her seniority in the Senate and her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee have led to undeniable results shaping U.S. energy policy. Perhaps more importantly, her experience and her ability to provide commonsense, steady leadership in a place where that’s difficult to come by, makes Susan Collins’ voice an incredible asset in our nation’s capital.

Despite what detractors might say, Susan Collins is not beholden to partisan bickering, and she is known in D.C. for being willing to work across the aisle to do the right thing for America. For the seventh consecutive year, Sen. Collins was ranked as the most bipartisan U.S. senator. She has a tried and true record of being able to build bipartisan consensus and advance policies under Republican and Democrat administrations alike, and she’s well-positioned to continue her leadership on behalf of Maine in the years ahead. As we look to the future and what we hope to achieve for Maine, and our country when it comes to advancing clean energy and combatting climate change, her dedication to bipartisan consensus will be what gets realistic, actionable solutions over the finish line.

In Maine and across the country, we’ve come to rely on Sen. Collins and her well-earned reputation for putting principles over politics, now it’s our turn to do the same.

Mary Small is a Bath resident, Republican, and former state Senator. Heather Reams is the executive director of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, a non-profit organization that recently launched Clean Energy Forward to engage Republican policymakers and the public about responsible, conservative solutions to address our nation’s energy, economic and environmental security while increasing America’s competitive edge.