Maine Public recently released a story headlined “The Maine GOP Has Condemned Susan Collins’ Vote To Convict Trump – But She’s Not Having Any Of It.” As a lifelong Republican and strong supporter of our senator, Susan Collins, I absolutely love this headline because it speaks volumes to the kind of leader she is.

During the recent campaign, many Republicans, including the state party, touted Sen. Collins’ bipartisanship and independence as a reason to vote for her, and clearly a majority of Maine voters agreed. Now, mere months later, some within the party want to punish her for the exact attributes that returned her to the Senate for an unprecedented fifth term.

Sen. Collins’ decision to follow the evidence – and her conscience – by voting to convict was exactly what Maine people expected of their elected representative. She put principles before party loyalty.

The state party’s condemnation letter achieves nothing except to turn Collins supporters further away from the Republican Party, which can ill afford to lose voters. Enrollment lags behind Democrats and independents, with a whopping 27 percent registered Republicans. Last November, Mainers split the ticket and voted to elect Sen. Collins while rejecting Donald Trump. In fact, during the last four years our party has lost the governor’s race, both congressional seats and the Maine Legislature.

Now they condemn the only Republican who won statewide election. They should consider this letter a condemnation of their ill-conceived attack against Sen. Collins.

Mary Small
Bath

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