Collins's Kavanaugh vote becomes key weapon for opponents
The Hill · C · trust 37/100
Comments: by Joseph Choi - 09/07/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Joseph Choi - 09/07/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Democrats and reproductive rights groups are zeroing in on Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-Maine) vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a pillar of their campaign to oust her, arguing she paved the way for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
On Friday, Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson released an ad blasting Collins for voting to confirm Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, who also voted to overturn Roe. The Kavanaugh confirmation carries greater political baggage because Collins was the deciding vote after dramatic hearings that involved claims of past sexual abuse.
In a social media video posted Friday, Jackson said, “Let’s put this idea that Susan Collins is pro-choice, you know, completely behind us.”
“That ship has completely sailed if she ever was. I mean, Kavanaugh’s certainly shown that’s something that she was willing to do,” said Jackson, also pointing to her vote this summer to confirm Erica Schwartz to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Jackson was referring to Schwartz’s remarks during her Senate confirmation hearing in which she told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that “abortion surveillance is absolutely a critical component of what the CDC is currently doing.”
Before he stepped out of the race, former Democratic candidate Graham Platner also attacked Collins for voting for Kavanaugh. A 15-second ad, titled “Wrong on Kavanaugh,” accused Collins of lying when she promised to protect Roe.
Now, Jackson has picked up the same line of attack and has gathered major reproductive rights organizations behind him. Reproductive Freedom for All and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund have endorsed Jackson in the race, with the latter calling him a “reproductive rights champion.”
Reproductive Freedom for All launched a $250,000 direct-mail campaign targeting women who support reproductive freedom.
“Susan Collins’ lack of leadership and broken promises on reproductive freedom are a glaring vulnerability in this race. She promised to protect her constituents’ fundamental freedoms, and instead helped Donald Trump take them away,” the group’s president, Mini Timmaraju, said in a statement last week.
Jackson’s record on abortion complicates the discourse.
The logger and labor activist began his political career as a Republican who opposed abortion, but has said his views changed over time. Planned Parenthood gave him a 100 percent rating in terms of voting for reproductive rights as of 2021, when he was leading Maine’s Senate as a Democrat.
Discussing his evolving view, Jackson recently told The New York Times , “I’ve made mistakes early on in understanding” abortion.
Jim Melcher, professor of political science at the University of Maine at Farmington, noted Collins’s vote to confirm Kavanaugh was more than eight years ago now, and she has already won reelection once since then. This election is, however, her first since the Dobbs decision.
“I’m not sure how much more she’s going to lose from that compared to what she already lost in 2020. I think those people that voted against her for that reason will continue to do so. But I’m not sure it’s going to lead to fresh opposition,” Melcher said.
“It makes sense for Jackson to remind voters of that. Maine, broadly speaking, is a relatively pro-choice state. That’s something that she’d always highlighted about her campaign, so it makes sense for Democrats to talk about this,” he added.
Collins’s team maintains that the senator’s pro-choice record speaks for itself. Her supporters point out that she also voted for all three sitting Democratic Supreme Court justices, as well as Chief Justice John Roberts, all of whom voted against overturning Roe.
“These partisan groups just don’t know what to do about Maine. First, they had to rationalize supporting Graham Platner, who blamed women for their own rapes and had to drop out after a rape allegation,” Blake Kernen, communications director of Collins’s reelection campaign, told The Hill.
“Now they are stuck with Troy Jackson, who was not only Graham Platner’s strongest supporter, but who spent 12 years in elected office as a staunch opponent of reproductive rights and who bullied his female colleagues when he was Senate President.”
Kernan was apparently referring to an incident in which Jackson reportedly frightened a female lawmaker when he threw a water bottle during a tense meeting.
Collins has consistently stated she does not regret voting for Kavanaugh.
“When Roe v. Wade fell because of Susan Collins’s vote to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, Troy Jackson got to work protecting abortion rights in Maine, helping pass some of the strongest protections in the country,” Jackson campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad said.
“Even now, Collins still proudly says she doesn’t regret her vote that helped overturn Roe. While she keeps making excuses for the damage she caused, Troy will keep fighting to repair it and restore abortion rights nationwide.”
Collins, who has been in the Senate since 1996, is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in this election cycle. But Jackson is facing a significant disadvantage in funding . Melcher predicted the race will likely be “very close again, and be very expensive.”
“Collins still has followers that are very devoted to her and will show up. There are people who are very enthusiastic about her, but her popularity is not where it was 10 years ago, and I think a lot of it is over the abortion question and about whether or…
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