Maine House Speaker to Take On GOP Senator Susan Collins

Democratic-aligned groups have raised millions for Collins's eventual challenger. While Collins provided a key vote in 2017 to defeat Trump's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, since then she has come under fire from Democrats for backing most of Trump's nominees and other parts of his legislative agenda.

The polling company Morning Consult reported Collins had a 52% approval rating in Maine in the first quarter — easily the highest of any Republican running for re-election in a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016. But that's a drop from her 65% approval rating for the second quarter of 2017.

Betsy Sweet, a former gubernatorial candidate, is also running for the Democratic Senate nomination on a progressive agenda including Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. Conservative blogger Derek Levasseur is challenging Collins for the GOP nomination.

Kevin Kelley, a campaign spokesman for Collins, touted her four terms of seniority as the most in 70 years for a Maine senator.

"The Democrats have a year-long competitive primary ahead — they will not be picking a nominee until June of 2020," he said in a statement.

— Read ACA Legal Attack Seen as Gift From Trump to Democrats, on ThinkAdvisor.

— Connect with ThinkAdvisor Life/Health on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.