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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 member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of congress. 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 (which later became the Committee on Homeland Security and 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 for governor in 1994, 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. She was reelected in 2002, in 2008, in 2014, and in 2020. 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 in the Senate, the dean of Maine's congressional delegation, and the only New England Republican in the 116th, 117th, and 118th Congresses. As of the 118th Congress, Collins is the only Republican to represent a Northeastern state in the Senate. She has been called a moderate Republican, and is often a pivotal vote in the Senate. To date, Collins is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate. Collins, who has described herself as a pro-choice Republican, attracted controversy for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She attributed her vote to her belief that Kavanaugh would not support overturning Roe v. Wade; in June 2022, Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe. During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Collins was one of 10 Republican senators to vote to acquit him on the first charge and one of five to vote to acquit on the second, and during the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Collins joined all Senate Republicans but one in voting to acquit him on the first charge, and all Republicans to acquit on the second. She was the only Republican senator to vote against confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. On February 13, 2021, she was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial. Early life One of six children, Collins was born in Caribou, Maine, where her family operates a lumber business established by her great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel W. Collins, in 1844. Her parents, Patricia (née McGuigan) and Donald Collins (1925–2018), each served as mayor of Caribou. Her father, a decorated veteran of World War II, also served in the Maine Legislature, with one term in the House, and four in the Senate. Collins's mother was born in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, to American parents. Collins is of English and Irish ancestry. Her uncle, Samuel W. Collins Jr., sat on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from 1988 to 1994 and served in the Maine Senate from 1973 to 1984. Collins attended Caribou High School, where she was president of the student council. During her senior year of high school in 1971, she was chosen to participate in the U.S. Senate Youth Program, through which she visited Washington, D.C., for the first time and had a two-hour conversation with Maine's first female United States Senator, Margaret Chase Smith, also a Republican. Collins is the first program delegate elected to the Senate and holds the seat once held by Smith. After graduating from high school, she continued her education at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Like her father, she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society. She graduated from St. Lawrence magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in government in 1975. Early political career Following graduation, Collins worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative and later U.S. Senator William Cohen from 1975 to 1987. She was also staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee on the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 1981 to 1987. In 1987, Collins joined the cabinet of Governor John R. McKernan Jr. as Commissioner of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. President George H. W. Bush appointed her the New England regional director for the Small Business Administration in 1992. After briefly serving in this post until the 1992 election of President Bill Clinton, she moved to Massachusetts and became Deputy State Treasurer of Massachusetts under Joe Malone in 1993. Returning to Maine, Collins won an eight-way Republican primary in the 1994 gubernatorial election, becoming the first woman nominated by a major party for governor of Maine. During the campaign, she received little support from Republican leaders and was criticized by conservative groups for her more liberal views on social issues. She lost the general election, receiving 23% of the vote and placing third behind Democrat Joseph E. Brennan and the winner, Independent candidate Angus King, her future Senate colleague. In December 1994, Collins became the founding executive director of the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson College. She served in this post until 1996, when she announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by her former boss, William Cohen, who retired to become United States Secretary of Defense under President Clinton. With Cohen's public endorsement, she won a difficult four-way primary and faced Brennan, her opponent in the 1994 gubernatorial election, in the general election. She defeated him, 49% to 44%. U.S. Senate Elections Collins was elected to the Senate in 1996. During the campaign she pledged that, if elected, she would serve only two terms. Collins was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree, 58%–42%, in 2008 over Representative Tom Allen, 61.5%–38.5%, and in 2014 over Shenna Bellows, 68.5%–31.5%. In her first three reelection campaigns, she carried every county in Maine. In 2020, Collins was challenged by Democratic State House Speaker Sara Gideon. The hotly contested race became the most expensive in Maine history.... Discover the Susan C Daffron popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Susan C Daffron books.