Maine's Senate race has become an unlikely referendum on a Supreme Court confirmation from six years ago. Senator Susan Collins' 2018 vote to put Brett Kavanaugh on the bench is now the central wedge issue in her re-election fight, as Democrats argue her decision to support him has fundamentally betrayed voters who trusted her judgment.
The backlash centers on a specific promise Collins made before casting the pivotal vote. She said Kavanaugh told her that Roe v. Wade represented "settled law" that he would respect. In 2022, Kavanaugh voted with the 5-4 majority that overturned the landmark case, eliminating the federal right to abortion and allowing states to impose bans.
At a rally last Friday for Collins' Democratic challenger Graham Platner, voters expressed raw frustration about being misled. Janice Low recalled hearing Collins on the radio sounding skeptical of Kavanaugh's confirmation, only to watch her vote yes anyway. "It was just so representative. That she could say this and then do that," Low said as she and her husband left the event.
Platner has made Collins' vote the centerpiece of his campaign attack. In his primary victory speech Tuesday, he accused her directly: "She got elected promising to protect Roe versus Wade, only to turn around and put a justice on the Supreme Court who overturned it? She lied to us."
At a bar Harbor rally the week before, Platner sharpened the message further. "She looked him in the eyes, and he told her that he would never do such a thing. Well, either she lied to us or she's a fool. Either way, you shouldn't be a United States senator from the state of Maine."
Collins has expressed disappointment in Kavanaugh's ruling but refuses to say she regrets confirming him. In a February interview with an NBC affiliate in Maine, she defended the vote as "difficult" but "right," noting she had conducted extensive interviews and consulted legal experts. She also pointed out that she has voted for Democratic-appointed justices and felt Democrats never gave her credit for those votes.
The Senate Majority PAC, a key Democratic super PAC, views abortion messaging as Maine's unique opening in the 2024 cycle. In internal polling from March, attacking Collins as the deciding vote for the justices who overturned Roe ranked as the second-strongest issue with registered Democrats, behind only healthcare and Medicaid cuts. The group has signaled it is "highly likely" to run abortion-focused ads targeting Collins' record and is the only major Democratic group expected to prioritize abortion messaging in a battleground state during this election.
A Collins campaign spokesperson dismissed the strategy as recycled attacks, saying Schumer and "his partisan allies" were trying to distract from Democratic problems. "Mainers have a lot more on their plate to consider this election cycle than 6-year-old leftovers," the spokesperson said.
The Kavanaugh entanglement cuts deeper still. Platner himself has faced serious allegations from women who described troubling behavior in their personal relationships with him. In the most serious case, his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield told the New York Times that Platner once twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door closed so she couldn't leave, telling her to stay put until she was "calm." Platner has denied the allegations.
Yet Platner's allies have weaponized Fifield's own history. In 2018, she helped found Ladies for Kavanaugh and publicly defended him against sexual assault allegations brought by Christine Blasey Ford and others. Fifield worked for the Heritage Foundation, affiliated with Independent Women, a conservative women's group, and worked on Nikki Haley's 2024 presidential campaign.
Progressive activists online have seized on this contradiction, with commentator Emma Vigeland posting that the allegations represent "a right-wing smear campaign." Her post garnered over half a million views. Platner supporters have amplified similar messages on social media, but a Democratic strategist involved in the race suggested most voters likely won't follow the complex layers of this argument.
What voters will focus on, the strategist said, is the fundamental question: "Big picture wise, Platner is probably going to make the case on what Kavanaugh is doing on the bench." Collins faced no ballot test of her Kavanaugh vote until now. She won re-election in 2020, before Roe fell. "The last time Collins was on the ballot, the Supreme Court hadn't yet overturned Roe. And obviously Collins voted for that," the strategist noted.
Collins has voted to confirm seven of the eight sitting justices who came before her during her tenure. Only Amy Coney Barrett drew her opposition, which she justified on procedural grounds, not merit. If Republicans control the Senate after this election, Collins could once again play a pivotal role in confirming one or two new justices, as at least two conservative justices are at retirement age.
On the Fifield allegations themselves, Collins acknowledged the accusations are "extremely troubling" and said Platner owes Mainers a "detailed answer." But she also emphasized she has no connection to Fifield and had never heard her name before reading the New York Times story.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Kavanaugh's 2022 abortion vote has handed Democrats a weapon Collins can't escape, but the irony of Platner's accuser being a vocal Kavanaugh defender adds a layer of complexity that cuts both ways."
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