Democrat Sara Gideon, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, has announced that she is officially running to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins in 2020. Gideon has declared her bid amid a wave of several other Democratic, Republican, and Independent candidates announcing their campaigns. There are two other Democrats who have also launched their campaigns for the seat: Betsy Sweet, who recently ran to be the Governor of Maine, and attorney Bre Kidman, the first openly non-binary candidate for the United States Senate. Danielle VanHelsing and Tiffany Bond are currently running as independent candidates. As of right now, the only person to challenge Collins from the Republican party is Derek Levasseur.
Senator Collins, who has not yet formally announced her plans to run again, faces opposition from the left of the aisle due to her controversial vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court despite sexual assault allegations and fears that he would harm Roe v. Wade. President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, Eleanor Smeal, released a statement prior to Collins’ vote and claimed, “Looking at his record, Brett Kavanaugh should not be given the benefit of the doubt: too much is at stake for women with this confirmation. Women’s lives depend on Senator Collins voting no on Brett Kavanaugh.”
Following her nomination of Kavanaugh, a crowdpac was created to raise money for the campaign of the future Democratic challenger of Collins. It has currently accumulated a total of $4,082,183 in donations.
Sources: Washington Post 6/24/19, The Cut 6/24/19, Feminist Newswire 8/21/18, ActBlue
