Senator Susan Collins ’75 of Maine is currently up for reelection to the U.S. Senate for her fourth straight term. One of the most notable St. Lawrence alumni, Senator Collins is known for being a bipartisan and centrist Republican who is often a swing-vote in important pieces of legislation. Senator Collins graduated magna cum laude from St. Lawrence in 1975 with a degree in Government and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society.
Time Magazine has described Senator Collins as one of “The last survivors of a once common species of moderate Northeastern Republicans.” She has been an important player in the Senate in issues of homeland security, national defense, education, health care, business development, and disaster response. She helped lead the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a law that prohibited gays from serving openly in the military. Despite being a Republican, Senator Collins sometimes falls on the left side of the spectrum on certain issues, most notably in her endorsement of same-sex marriage and a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Senator Collins has served on the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security, and the Special Committee on Aging.
Over mid-semester break, a group of students traveled to Maine to campaign with Senator Collins. Among them were Phoebe Suva ’17, Emery Younger ’17, and Anna Brouillette ’17 who traveled with government Professor Fred Exoo’s Parties, Interest Groups, and Elections class. As she has done in the past, Senator Collins extended an invitation to the SLU community and the Government Department to travel with her campaign. As a resident of Maine, Suva finds that “It’s shocking how St. Lawrence doesn’t make a bigger deal about how influential of a senator Susan Collins is.”
The group first met at Senator Collins’ campaign office in Bangor, Maine. They then rode on the senator’s campaign bus with her to small businesses around Maine. Suva noticed how “Whenever she went to a local business, she knew the name of the owner and knew a little bit about them, so I think that personal connection was very important to her.” In addition, the students waved signs in the street and tried to attract attention to the campaign.
Brouillette admires the way that Senator Collins has perfect attendance in the Senate, something not common among senators. She notes that Collins “Very much prides herself in it, which I think is very respectable.”
Younger explains, “I wouldn’t say that I agree with her 100 percent of the time on policy decisions…but I still think that she is a very respectable senator and a really good role model within the Senate for compromise between political parties.” Suva adds, “I think one of the main reasons I like her so much is not based on her specific policies, but that she is able to go either way and that she makes the effort to try to go either way.”
Senator Collins is currently up in the polls from her Democratic opponent, Shenna Bellows, by about 30 points. As a well-respected senator, it is likely that the SLU alum will be in the Senate for her fourth straight term.