BRUNSWICK

Earlier this month, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, used a Washington Post op-ed to declare that she would not vote for Donald Trump in November.

Despite winning the Republican Party nomination in July, Trump has had difficulty in consolidating support among Republican politicians. Including Collins, several party elites and members of Congress have publicly declared their intention not to vote for Trump.

Even in Maine, endorsements run thin. Among Maine’s statewide elected officials, only Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed Trump, although he admitted recently that the New York real estate mogul was his third choice in the primaries. Independent Sen. Angus King has elected to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton along with District 1 Rep. Chellie Pingree.

The campaign of Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd District didn’t return multiple requests for comment from the Times Record, although he has previously dodged questions about his support for his party’s nominee.

Among Midcoast Maine’s down ticket Republican candidates, support for the GOP nominee varied. While many admitted that they were likely to vote for the Trump come November, few were willing to give him their outright endorsement.

Bil Weidner, the Republican running for District 52, was fairly representative of the Midcoast candidates. He said that while he’s supported Trump so far and would probably vote for him, he still has reservations.

“We have a couple of months to go, and not everyone knew Trump before the elections,” said Weidner. “It’s a short window to get to know him.”

For Weidner, there’s two Donald Trumps. There’s the scripted Trump who uses a teleprompter to stay on message, whom Weidner says has been “pretty good.” But there’s also the unscripted, off message Trump — and that concerns him. Many of the half dozen or so Republican candidates that responded had similar concerns about the nominee, although no one said they would not vote for Trump on Election Day.

Not everyone is holding out though. Republican candidate Gina Mason of Lisbon said that even though she doesn’t always agree with Trump’s positions, she thinks Republicans are obligated to support their nominee.

“We have a process in this country, and the process chooses a nominee.

It’s sad when a Republican doesn’t support the nominee,” she said.

For Mark Holbrook, the Republican candidate challenging Pingree in the 1st District, there’s no question about who Republicans should support: it’s Trump.

“I’m disappointed, and I don’t understand it,” said Holbrook about Collins’ op-ed. “I don’t understand why someone would protest like that. He may not have been everybody’s first choice, but he’s the nominee and anybody who was on the fence ought to get off the fence and get behind him.

“Our country is at stake — our constitution is at stake,” he added.

There is one thing, however, that unites Midcoast Republicans: Hillary Clinton. While support for their own nominee might be tepid, the Republican candidates stood together in their opposition to the Democratic nominee.

Every candidate interviewed said that they would not vote for Clinton in November, although some had stronger feelings than others.

“I will be voting for whoever is running against Hillary Clinton,” said Mike Stevens, who’s running for the House in Brunswick. “I would vote for Charles Manson before I would vote for Hillary Clinton.”

nstrout@timesrecord.com