This Republican Senator Might Just Vote For Hillary


Republican Senator Susan Collins has represented the state of Maine since 1996. She is the most senior Republican woman in the Senate. She has a solid reputation as a moderate and has been successful in working with both Republicans and Democrats to achieve her goals.

Unlike House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis), who has endorsed Trump, Sen. Collins is not currently supporting the GOP presumptive nominee.  In sharp contrast to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl), she is not willing to vote for the guy just because he has an R after his name.

Addicting Info is reporting that Senator Collins told reporters recently that she is withholding her support for Trump. She said that Trump’s racist ranting against Judge Gonzalo Curiel was too inappropriate. She went even further, though, saying that she just might find herself voting for her former colleague, Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

 

Admitting that she finds herself in a difficult position, given her leadership role in the Republican Party, the Maine Senator said:

“This is a difficult choice, and it’s one, like many of my colleagues, that I am struggling with. It’s not like we have perfect candidates from whom to choose in this election … I worked very well with Hillary when she was my colleague in the Senate and when she was Secretary of State. But I do not anticipate voting for her this fall. I’m not going to say never, because this has been such an unpredictable situation, to say the least.”

There are a whole pile of other Republicans who have said that they absolutely will not be voting for Trump, but all of them have ruled out voting for Clinton. Senator Collins has become the first lawmaker to have the backbone to say that Clinton could possibly be the best choice in this election.

Senator Collins did give Trump a hint about how to gain her support, if he wants it. She said:

“I would love to be able to endorse Donald Trump, but he really has to change the approach that he’s taken. If I were giving him advice, I would tell him he should own up to making mistakes. He should apologize to the judge and to the American people. And he should stop insulting people.”

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and assume that the highly intelligent Senator from Maine is not holding her breath waiting for Trump to change.

Featured image by Marc Nozell via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons Generic License 2.0.

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"