Hogan Cuts Digital Ads For Embattled Maine Senator Collins, Who Alienated Many With Decisive Vote For Kavanaugh

From Maryland Matters:

By Josh Kurtz
September 18, 2020

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) has cut two digital ads for one of the most embattled U.S. senators on the ballot this fall, Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R).

The ads are part of a $450,000 digital campaign that the Republican Jewish Coalition is running in support of Collins’ reelection, according to Hogan’s political action committee, An America United. The PAC cites a study from the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University earlier this year that showed Collins has been the senator most likely to work across party lines for the past seven years.

“Maine has a long history of independent-thinking leaders,” Hogan says in a 15-second ad, titled “Independent.” He calls her “exactly the kind of independent, thoughtful and effective leader that we desperately need in the Senate.”

In a 30-second ad called “Bipartisan,” Hogan appears with former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat turned independent, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker ― who, like Hogan, is a popular Republican governing a blue state.

“I’m a Republican, but I’m very independent ― just like Susan Collins,” Hogan says in that ad. “Susan is smart, effective, and always puts Maine first.”

Lieberman and Baker also speak to Collins’ bipartisan credentials.

Maine is a major battleground in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate. Two polls this week showed Collins trailing her Democratic challenger, Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon. One poll, released Thursday by Quinnipiac University, showed Gideon ahead 54% to 42%. A poll released Friday by The New York Times and Siena College showed Gideon leading 49% to 44%.

jkurtz@marylandmatters.org

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