Collins has a reputation as one of the last remaining moderates in the Senate. But a closer look at her record shows that her centrism comes and goes when it’s politically convenient. When push comes to shove, she inevitably falls in line with Republican leadership. Take healthcare, the electoral juggernaut of 2018. Collins made a big show of opposing multiple Republican ACA repeal bills as the 2018 election approached and voters turned against GOP healthcare sabotage. But before it was politically expedient to break from her party, she was fully in line with a Republican agenda that included full repeal of Obamacare and voted for a full repeal.
Collins was also a deciding vote for the Republican tax bill — which ballooned the deficit while seriously undermining healthcare by repealing the individual mandate. And that’s before you examine the additional economic impacts of the legislation further rigging the economy for the rich at everyone else’s expense. She’s a moderate in name only; at the end of the day she will side with a Republican caucus that is just too extreme for Maine.