Buoyed by more than $4 Million in collected campaign money already deposited to run against Maine Republican US Senator Susan Collins ….There is a list of people being made by state Democrats not too happy about media reports naming former Obama National Security Assistant Susan Rice as a choice….
Actually?
Collins says she’s not made her mind she’ll even run gains in 2020 for re-election…
There’s no consensus candidate waiting in the wings to take on Collins, though some Democrats are already buzzing about Jared Golden, the Marine veteran and state representative running against GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin in the northern half of the state. Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree is also seen as a potential top challenger, though she lost badly to Collins in 2002.
Several other Democrats have publicly expressed interest. In addition to Gideon, who told POLITICO she would think about it over the next month or two, Emily Cain, the executive director of EMILY’s List and a two-time congressional candidate in Maine, told the Portland Press Herald she would consider a bid. Adam Cote, the runner-up in this year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, told POLITICO he had received messages from people encouraging him to run and that he would consider a campaign after this year’s midterms.
“I would say the majority of Mainers, not just the majority of Democrats, were disappointed in the vote for Kavanaugh,” Cote said. (He added that while he thinks Democrats can “walk and chew gum at the same time,” it is important for the party to focus on the midterms before turning its full attention to Collins.)
Susan Rice, a former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, threw her name into the ring on Twitter shortly after the Senate on Saturday confirmed Kavanaugh to the court by a vote of 50 to 48. But two Maine Democrats, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, cast doubt on Rice as a viable candidate, saying she would be viewed skeptically by voters given her lack of long-term ties to the state, though she owns a home there.
Republicans, meanwhile, brush off the idea that any Democrat could be competitive against Collins two years from now, if she chooses to run for reelection. Collins, 65, told POLITICO earlier this month she would decide next year whether to run again….
image…secondnexus.com