Thank you, Susan Collins, now hit the road | Opinion

Brenda Power is a retired educator who lives in Ellsworth. She was the 1999 UMaine Distinguished Professor.

I have been careless this summer in keeping up with my to-do list. On my kitchen counter is a big stack of glossy full-color mailers I’ve received over the past six months, all telling me that I need to call Susan Collins and thank her.

Anytime I drive anywhere I hear at least a few ads on the radio compounding my guilt, reminding me I still haven’t called and thanked Susan Collins for all the wonderful things she has done for me and everyone else in Maine.

So thank you, Susan Collins, for voting for so many well-qualified judges and presidential cabinet nominees from both parties early in your long tenure as a senator. That’s what makes it so unfortunate that you have abandoned any pretense of bipartisanship and objective analysis of qualifications during your current term, voting for Donald Trump’s second term agenda over 94% of the time. For example, you voted for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the department of Health and Human Services , a wholly unqualified anti-vaccine activist who has spearheaded the gutting of vaccine mandates and food safety inspections.

Thanks for your support of a woman’s right to choose in the 1990s and early this century. Of course, that made your deciding and proud vote for Brett Kavanaugh (who predictably was then the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade) all the more devastating for Mainers, as well as anyone who cares about women’s health.

Thanks for bringing revenue for some projects to Maine, as you’ve trumpeted in countless ads and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Too bad not just Maine, but the whole country was depending on you as the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to fight back against the lawless work of DOGE as it canceled or withheld many billions in legally appropriated funds for over 30,000 projects, for everything from cancer research to climate initiatives.

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You had more responsibility than almost any other legislator as the mighty Appropriations chair to advocate for Congress’ power of the purse, yet you held not even one committee oversight hearing to challenge DOGE or Trump’s executive orders rescinding funds. I’m not the greatest at math, but even I know the $1.5 billion you’ve brought to the state for worthy projects is a pittance compared to the many billions Mainers face in losses from your party’s unrelenting cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and rural hospitals.

One of the first things I learned when I moved to Maine decades ago was that there is an ingrained culture here of modesty. It’s expected that you’ll work hard and quietly do your job well. Not because you expect recognition, but because it’s the right thing to do.

And when you are done with your paid work for the week, you’ll take a little extra time to volunteer at your church or shovel your elderly neighbor’s driveway. Because our responsibilities don’t end with what we’re paid to do — our job is also to make the lives of others in our communities a little better.

The fact that Susan Collins and her billionaire backers cranking out these mailers and radio ads expect, even demand, that all Mainers thank her repeatedly shows how out of touch she and they are with what it means to be a Mainer. It’s no wonder Mainers now rank her as one of the least popular senators in the country among her constituents. No one should expect to be thanked on repeat for doing their job. Especially if they aren’t doing it particularly well.

Despite all that, Susan Collins, here is the thanks you’ve earned from me. Now that I’ve done what you’ve asked, can you please quit filling my mailbox and Maine landfills with these annoying pleas for gratitude?

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Tagged: columns, election 2026, senate 2026