Maine favors lawmakers working between the aisles. The middle is the most difficult place for legislators, where neither the left nor right is appeased. It takes bravery to be in the middle, and Maine women paved the way to hold space there. Margaret Chase Smith and Olympia Snowe were moderate and won elections. Maine approves of our Republican women with values that represent all their constituents’ voices.

Snowe and Smith – whom Sen. Susan Collins admires – demonstrated political courage by bucking their party. How can Collins claim their moderate reputation? Collins stated that she didn’t vote for Donald Trump for president, but she votes with Trump 94 percent of the time in the Senate, according to a recent CQ analysis. That’s not moderation. Not when the far right dominates Republican politics. Susan Collins rides the coattails of Smith and Snowe.

Collins can choose to bow out respectfully. She can retire before history remembers her selling her legacy to dark money and the Trump administration. Collins could gather her remaining bravery and stand up by stepping down and retiring. Wouldn’t it be nice to be remembered as a legislator who puts Maine people ahead of special interest groups?

Collins has another choice: She can face her voting record, her funders and her new reputation of cognitive dissonance in a re-election bid to reclaim lost voters. She won’t reclaim my vote, and I am one among many. Not after Brett Kavanaugh, the tax bill, the Mitch McConnell deal. Not after she wouldn’t meet me in her Maine or D.C. offices. Not after she didn’t respond to any correspondence. Not after party-line votes 94 percent of the time.

This will come out during a re-election bid. Susan Collins’ legacy will not resemble that of Smith and Snowe. I suspect she is leaving one way or another – what kind of legacy does Susan Collins want in 2020?

Sarah Gaba

Standish