Susan Collins

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Rev. Steve Edington is minister emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire, and a former minister of the First Universalist Church of Rockland.

I began my career in the Unitarian Universalist parish ministry in 1979 when I was called to serve the congregation at the First Universalist Church of Rockland, Maine.

The chair of the search committee was State Sen. Samuel W. Collins, a prominent member of that church. He was also the Republican majority leader of the Maine State Senate. Collins went on to become an associate justice on the Maine State Supreme Court.

Sam Collins, who passed away in 2012, was one of the most decent and honorable politicians —and human beings — I have known. Despite being a longtime Democrat, I was pleased to vote for him when he ran for, and won, reelection in 1982. Although he and I did not always see eye to eye on various issues, his bedrock integrity gained him my vote.

I had concluded my ministry in Rockland and moved on to another ministerial assignment when Sam’s niece, the now departing U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, began her political career.

The last time I saw Sam was when I returned to Rockland to take part in a memorial service at the Universalist Church. Susan had just been elected to her first term in the United States Senate. In the brief conversation we had, Sam spoke of how proud he was of his niece, Sen. Susan Collins.

I thought on these things as I watched Maine’s U.S. Senator-elect, Troy Jackson, celebrate his victory over Collins this past election night. I was pleased with Troy Jackson’s win. Had I been a resident of Maine (for now, I live in New Hampshire), Jackson would have had my vote.

At the same time, I could not help but feel sadness for Susan Collins.

She comes from a well-established Yankee Republican family of good and honorable people. She did much good for the people of Maine in her 30-year Senate career, often working across the aisle for legislation she felt served the greater common good and going beyond partisan politics. I believe she entered the Senate with the idea of being Maine’s next Sen. Margaret Chase Smith.

Many years in, Collins found herself engulfed in the age of Donald Trump.

When Trump became the Republican presidential nominee in the summer of 2016, Sen. Collins — by then in her fourth term in the Senate — announced that she would not support him, saying she felt he lacked the character and integrity to hold the office of president.

During Trump’s first, and now second, terms as president, Collins did vote to oppose several of his major initiatives, including Trump’s effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act and his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Following Trump’s second impeachment in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, an insurrection he instigated, Collins voted to convict and remove the president from office.

But when it came to her dealings with Trump, Sen. Collins also often found herself playing two ends against the middle. Analysis tells us that she reliably voted in line with his initiatives and appointments.

Perhaps Collins’ most telling move in this regard was her casting her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kavanaugh, in turn, cast the deciding vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion.

It was Collins’ approach/avoid dance with the Trump presidency that finally caught up to her in last week’s midterm election.

Collins had arguably managed to bring herself around to accommodating Trump more often than she did standing up to him. Most of the senator’s moves to oppose him were taken when she knew Trump would still get the outcome he wanted, allowing her to demonstrate a kind of independence while remaining in Trump’s good graces.

I daresay this was the kind of game Sen. Margaret Chase Smith never would have played, whatever the political consequences. At this point, though, it no longer matters.

Ms. Collins has had her Senate career. She did good in numerous ways, while making decisions that finally cost her the office she held for three decades.

A few months from now, my wife and I will once again become residents of Maine when we move to Kennebunk to be near our son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. I look forward to having Troy Jackson and Angus King as my United States senators.

And I wish Susan Collins the best, wherever her life may take her from here.

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