Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been drawn into a skirmish with progressive groups that she accuses of attempting to “bribe” her to vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The dust-up began when a campaign called Be A Hero, started last month by activist Ady Barkan, pledged to make a $1.3 million donation to Collins’ eventual 2020 opponent if the centrist GOP senator supports Kavanaugh. The effort reflects pressure that left-wing groups and abortion rights advocates are heaping on Collins ahead of Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote, likely to come in early October.
Collins, who hasn’t announced how she will vote on Kavanaugh, vehemently pushed back on the donation, telling the site NewsMax on late Monday that she believes it is akin to a bribe.
“I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” she told the site.
Collins’ office also said on Tuesday the fundraising is “basically a bribe.”
“Sen. Collins will make up her mind based on the merits of the nomination,” spokeswoman Annie Clark told the Washington Examiner. “Threats or other attempts to bully her will not play a factor in her decision-making whatsoever.”
[More: Key senators mum on Kavanaugh vote after four days of hearings]
Mainers for Accountable Leadership, one of several progressive groups that joined the campaign, tweeted in response that Collins calling the effort of grass-roots donors a bribe is “politics at its worst.”
“Senator Collins may not really know what small dollar donations are, because during her election campaign less than 3 percent of her money came from small dollar donors while 44 percent came from PACs,” the group said.
The groups are using the crowd-funding site CrowdPAC to raise the funds. It posted a $1.3 million goal. As of late afternoon Tuesday, it had reached $1,029,321 from 36,960 donors.
The site said that the donors’ credit cards won’t be charged if Collins votes against Kavanaugh.
“Senator Collins must listen to the outpouring of Mainers demanding she protect them and publicly pledge to vote against Judge Kavanaugh, who has indicated willingness to overturn Roe v. Wade and gut health care protections for America’s most vulnerable,” according to a statement on the CrowdPAC site.
Abortion rights groups believe Kavanaugh cannot be trusted to uphold Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that made abortion a constitutional right. Collins has said that Kavanaugh told her that Roe was “settled law,” but abortion rights groups don’t believe he would protect abortion rights if he gets on the court, citing President Trump’s stated desire to appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices.
To prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation, it would likely be necessary for Collins and fellow GOP centrist Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to oppose him, as the GOP has a 51-49 seat majority in the Senate.
Collins’ offices across Maine received thousands of coat hangers since Kavanaugh’s nomination, a reference to back-alley abortionists that activists believe would return if Kavanaugh reaches the court and helps strike down Roe v. Wade, according to the Associated Press.
