Susan Collins helped overturn Roe. That's coming back to haunt her.
Collins’s Kavanaugh confirmation vote and her recent defense of it are presented as liabilities in her reelection campaign.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYDaily Kos is an established, openly progressive blog with an attributed author, but its partisan orientation and the absence of visible reporting or correction details limit confidence in its institutional standards. The article includes named quotations but presents a strongly opinionated account.
- Source type — A partisan blog with an established public presence; this is a meaningful limitation compared with a wire service or general newsroom.
- Editorial standards — The text uses overtly judgmental language and offers little visible separation between reporting and commentary.
- Author attribution — The article names Emily Singer as its author.
- Transparency — Named sources and quotations appear, but the article provides little information here about reporting methods or corrections.
The article gives specific vote counts and quotes Collins, Platner and Murray, but it presents a strongly one-sided argument and does not include a response from Collins beyond her quoted defense or supporting documents for its claims.
HOW WE SCORE ↗Collins’s defense is quoted, but the article frames it as factually incorrect and dismissive, then gives substantial space to criticism from her opponent and a Democratic senator without comparable counterarguments or broader context.
- Counterarguments presented — Collins’s statements are included, but no fuller defense or response to the article’s analysis is presented.
- Source diversity — The criticism comes from Collins’s opponent and a Democratic senator; opposing perspectives are limited.
- Loaded language — The article itself uses evaluative language in describing Collins and Republican justices.
- Opinion vs reporting — Commentary and judgment are interwoven with factual reporting.
The article uses critical, explicitly ideological language about Republicans and presents Collins’s explanation as a failure to take accountability. Its framing is strongly critical of Collins and Republican actions on abortion.
- Language tone — Uses charged descriptions of Republican justices and Collins’s conduct, rather than consistently neutral wording.
- Framing — Frames Collins’s vote and recent explanation as politically damaging and as an accountability failure.
- Source selection — Features criticism from Collins’s opponent and a Democratic senator without a comparable opposing voice.
The article argues that Susan Collins’s 2018 vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh is a liability in her reelection campaign, and criticizes her recent defense of that vote. Her Democratic opponent, Graham Platner, and Sen. Patty Murray also fault her over abortion rights.
The article says Collins’s vote to confirm Kavanaugh has become a major issue in her reelection campaign. Collins said she did not regret the vote and argued that Roe v. Wade would have been overturned even without Kavanaugh; the article disputes that reasoning, distinguishing the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Dobbs from the 5-4 vote to overturn Roe.
Platner criticized Collins’s account and ran ads highlighting her Kavanaugh vote. At a Democratic-led forum, Patty Murray also criticized Republicans, including Collins, over abortion rights and the confirmation of Kavanaugh and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The article says Collins is vulnerable in the coming election.
Community verdict
9 VOTES
People in this story
SWIPE →Maine senator facing reelection and criticized for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh
Senator criticizing Republicans, including Collins, over abortion rights
President who nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court
Secretary of Health and Human Services mentioned in Murray’s criticism of Senate confirmation votes
Former vice president whose past election result in Maine is cited
Democratic Senate candidate and Collins’s opponent
Part of a bigger story
7 OUTLETSSusan Collins defended her 2018 vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh and said he was not pivotal to the decision overturning Roe. She described the ruling as 6-3, although the decision was 5-4. Left-leaning outlets frame her defense as a campaign liability over abortion rights and emphasize criticism of her account of the Roe ruling. Center outlets focus on Collins defending her record under questioning, with one article emphasizing the interview and another examining the vote-count discrepancy.
- ARTICLES
- 7
- OUTLETS
- 7
- AVG CRED
- 64
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