Harry Reid famously said about Susan Collins, “She’s always there when you don’t need her.” That sums up the senator from Maine pretty well. Collins maintains the facade of being a moderate by voting against Trump interests when her vote isn’t needed and towing the Trump line with her votes when the vote is crucial. This is why she’s been compared to Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown; many people keep thinking that one day she’ll change and then BAM! Up goes the football once again.
So she votes with Pres., VP when her vote matters to them, AND THEN RUNS AND HIDES WHEN THE VP SHOWS UP IN HER STATE.
This is concerning!
— Keith_Simonian (@Keith_Simonian) August 23, 2026
So why is Collins running from Vance when presumably he is in the state to shore up her senate seat? Very good question. The most obvious is that in increasingly blue Maine Collins does not want to identify with MAGA, feeling it the death knell to do so.
Unfortunately, with Collins’ voting record, it becomes a little hard to disabuse people of the fact that Collins is Trump’s handmaiden. How will Collins overcome this handicap?
Good question again. Watch her like a hawk for the final weeks lead up to the midterms election. Collins will do whatever gymnastics she can possibly do to appear the moderate, independent sort, before returning to Mitch McConnell’s gameplan and being a Trump toady. It should be entertaining to watch.
Hopefully, by now, the voters in Maine are wise to her baloney.