Cynthia Dill of Cape Elizabeth is a former Democratic state senator and civil rights lawyer.
If you’re looking for political drama, a co-protester or a senator who changes their core values more often than Mainers change their snow tires, Susan Collins may not be for you.
Collins’ brand of lawmaking is a bit like Warren Buffett’s style of investing: it’s steady, reliable and focused on long-term results. She delivers for her constituents and leads by example with the distinction our state deserves. Collins is quietly powerful and living proof for girls that the world is their oyster.
And for those of us who still believe feminism is about protecting the rights of women? She isn’t just a choice; Susan Collins is the only adult in the room.
I left the Democratic Party when it left behind Maine’s women and girls. It’s hard to stay in a “big tent” when the tent poles are being replaced by an ideology that defines “female” as anyone who “self-identifies” as a woman, regardless of their sex at birth. When a party can no longer define what a woman is, it can no longer defend women’s rights.
Maine is a small state where personal connections define our politics. I served as a seatmate in the Maine State Senate to my friend Troy Jackson, and I truly like him as a person. However, I have watched as he has flip-flopped on the most critical issues affecting women to please a now rabid “progressive” base. Jackson was previously a right-to-lifer and voted against marriage equality as a state lawmaker, while Sen. Collins has been a consistent proponent of reproductive rights and an early supporter of marriage equality.
Opponents often claim that Sen. Collins votes with Republicans 95% of the time, but for her, it has always been about the votes that count for Maine. She has consistently demonstrated her independence and strength. Collins did not vote for Donald Trump in either of the general elections he won, and she had the courage to tell him so to his face. Despite this, he respects her because she possesses the political chops and resources to make things happen for her constituents.
As a U.S. senator, she had the fortitude to vote to convict Trump, the leader of her party, further proving she is her own woman. When the stakes are high, Collins stands up for what is best for our state — delivering direct results and “no drama,” especially regarding the safety and rights of its women and girls.
The foundation of our nation must be based on truth, yet the modern Democratic Party has moved toward a platform that denies basic biological reality. The left’s insistence that men can be women is a fundamental falsehood that threatens our social fabric. Susan Collins has the courage to say out loud that women are real. She stands as Maine’s only backstop against the denial of the two immutable sexes, fighting a platform that has gone so far as to erase the word “woman” from some statutes as if it’s a dirty word.
Under Troy Jackson’s leadership, Maine has become an abortion and “gender-affirming care” sanctuary state. We now live in a state where late-term abortion is allowed and paid for by taxpayers. Kids can have a telehealth Zoom appointment and get a prescription for hormones based on standards promulgated by a disgraced and discredited organization, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, currently under investigation and being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive, false and unsubstantiated claims regarding the safety, necessity and effectiveness of pediatric medical transition services.
The consequences of Maine’s gender ideology thanks to Democrats like Troy Jackson are nowhere more horrific than in our prison system. Because Maine law now allows any prisoner to “self-identify” as female, the door has been opened for biological males to enter women’s private spaces. Violent criminals are being housed at the Maine Correctional Center, where female inmates are being traumatized, assaulted and harassed by them.
Democrats do not hear the cries of these women over the din of their political machine and a lust for power funded by the big donors of identity politics. Meanwhile, the state has prioritized legal protection for vaginoplasty providers, so that “bottom surgery” is protected while the safety of vulnerable women is treated as an afterthought.
To the protesters shouting about Susan Collins’ vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh: let’s look at the facts. In legal terms, there is no causation between Collins’ vote and the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade; even if she had voted “no,” then-Vice President Mike Pence would have broken the tie to confirm him anyway.
Most importantly, while the media focuses on the negative, Justice Kavanaugh saved women’s sports. Furthermore, abortion rights were expanded in Maine following the Dobbs decision, proving Collins’ vote never stood in the way of a woman’s private healthcare decisions.
We need a leader who knows that Title IX is meant to protect female athletes, not to be a social experiment. We need a leader who understands that you can’t defend women’s rights if you can’t even define what a woman is. We need a fierce protector of the rights of women and children.
For independents who want common sense over chaos — who reject MAGA and the DSA — the choice is clear: the true leader for the ladies, lads and lasses of this great land is our lioness, Sen. Susan Collins.
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