KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) – Former President George W. Bush on Friday supported Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine in his first public approval of the 2020 election cycle.
Bush has largely remained out of the political battle since leaving the White House in 2009, and his conversion is a welcome impetus for Collins, who is running her toughest campaign as she seeks a fifth term. The centrist senator has become a top target for Democrats, casting her as an enabler of President Donald Trump’s agenda, even though she said she votes more against him than any other GOP senator and distances herself from his controversial statements and policies.
‘She’s honest. She is equal. She brings dignity into a world that has become really ugly. The political world is uglier than I can ever remember, ”Bush said after he and his wife, Laura, had lunch with Collins in the family’s summer house overlooking the ocean. Bush called her “smart and capable”, “very influential” and “pretty darned independent.”
SEN. COLLINS REFUSES TO SAY WHERE AND SAY VOICE OF TRUMP, SIGNALS SHE DOESN’T WANT A PROMOTION AGAINST
Laura Bush said she was ‘shocked’ by attack ads targeting Collins. “I do not like the way the ads portray her, because I know they are not correct, and I just do not like that kind of campaign,” she said. “That really gave me an extra reason to stand up and speak for Susan Collins.”
Collins said she was happy “on a personal level” for the support. “I have great admiration for President Bush and Laura Bush. To have her support means the world to me, ”she said afterward.
National attention to the race has helped Collins’ opponent, Democrat Sara Gideon, the spokeswoman for the Maine House of Representatives, collect a large cash benefit.
The nod of the former president, whose politics appear central to Trump-era norms, may support some traditional Republicans in the Collins corner. Trump has not endorsed the Maine Senator, whose race is among a handful critical of Republicans’ hopes of retaining control of the Senate, where they have a 53-47 advantage.
Collins, meanwhile, has not said whether she intends to vote for Trump.
The distinction is a rare move for Bush. While he has done some private fundraisers for candidates since leaving his office, this is his first show of public support for a candidate this year, his office said.
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Collins worked with Bush when he was president and served as the first chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.
Collins then served alongside another Maine Republican, Olympia Snowe, who has been in the Senate since his retirement. Collins is now the only Republican member of Congress from New England.
Collins has been popular in Maine, but Democrats were offended when she voted for Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court and for Trump’s taxes.
Democrats consider unseating Collins this fall as a key to re-enactment of the Senate, and Gideon withdrew early support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commission.
Gideon has already raised more than $ 24 million, compared to more than $ 16 million for Collins. That does not include $ 3.8 million for Gideon, which was raised by Collins’ critics during the Kavanaugh debate.
Gideon also drew a number of distinctions from groups that had previously supported Collins: the Human Rights Campaign and the Maine State Council of Machinists, for example. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which was neutral in Collins’ 2014 race, supports Gideon.
The Bush family has long had a connection in Kennebunkport, where his father, former President George HW Bush, spent much of the year in a stone-and-mortar house until his death in 2018.
George and Laura Bush now live in the main house. This is her second time spending the summer there, Laura Bush said.
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This story has been corrected to show that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, not the Planned Parenthood Victory Fund, was endorsed by Gideon.
