Susan Collins
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Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine, a seat she has held since 1997. A member of the Republican Party, she is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress and the longest-serving Republican woman senator. Since 2025, Collins has served as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Born in Caribou, Maine, Collins is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Beginning her career as a staff assistant for Senator William Cohen in 1975, she became staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee of the Committee on Governmental Affairs in 1981. Governor John R. McKernan Jr. then appointed her commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation in 1987. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush appointed her director of the Small Business Administration's regional office in Boston. Collins became a deputy state treasurer in the office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts in 1993. After moving back to Maine in 1994, she became the Republican nominee for governor of Maine in the 1994 general election. She was the first female major-party nominee for the post, finishing third in a four-way race with 23% of the vote. After her bid, she became the founding director of the Center for Family Business at Husson University in Bangor, Maine. Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and has been reelected every six years since. She chaired the Senate Special Committee on Aging from 2015 to 2021 and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 2003 to 2007. Collins is a senior Republican woman senator, the dean of Maine's congressional delegation, and the only New England Republican in the 116th, 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses. Along with Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Collins is one of only two Republicans to represent a Northeastern state in the Senate. Collins is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, and since 2019, the only Republican official holding statewide office in Maine. Generally regarded as a moderate Republican, Collins is often a pivotal vote in the Senate. She was one of three Republicans to vote against a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act. She was the sole Republican to vote against confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and one of three to vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson. As a pro-choice Republican, she drew scrutiny for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2021, Collins became the longest-serving Republican woman senator in history, surpassing Margaret Chase Smith, who held the same Senate seat. Collins opposed the Women's Health Protection Act. In procedural issues, she has maintained her support for the 60-vote Senate threshold, arguing for bipartisan compromise and preserving the filibuster. Collins was a pivotal Republican vote for the Trump administration's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, though she later expressed concern about some of its provisions. During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Collins was one of the few Republican senators who voted to acquit him on both charges. During the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Collins joined most other Senate Republicans in voting to acquit on both charges. In his second impeachment trial, she was one of seven Republicans to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection.