Collins “Lost One of Her Most Prominent Environmental Backers” After Anti-Environmental Votes

Yesterday, the League of Conservation Voters announced its endorsement of House Speaker Sara Gideon in the Maine Senate race, one more sign of how much Senator Susan Collins has changed over more than two decades in Washington. Senator Collins once praised LCV as the “leading environmental group in the country” and bragged that she “must be doing something right” if her opponent had not been endorsed by the organization. But after voting against commonsense environmental protections and confirming more than a dozen anti-environment Trump nominees, Collins received an abysmal 21% on LCV’s most recent scorecard.

One group not disappointed in Senator Collins’ out-of-touch record? The special interest donors who have rewarded her for her votes at the expense of Mainers’ public health and the environment.

Here’s what they’re saying about LCV’s “rebuke” of Senator Collins’ increasingly dismal environmental record:

• Washington Post: “The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund announced its endorsement of Sara Gideon, Maine’s speaker of the House and a Democrat running against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)… The group typically spends tens of millions of dollars each campaign cycle and previously endorsed Collins when she ran for reelection in 2014.”

• POLITICO Pro: “Sen. Susan Collins has lost one of her most prominent environmental backers as the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund announced today it would support her challenger, Sara Gideon, in Maine’s 2020 Senate election. It’s a major shift for the group”

• E&E News: “The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund endorsed Democrat Sara Gideon to represent Maine in the Senate, a rebuke to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who previously counted the group as an ally.”

• Daily Kos: Susan Collins loses League of Conservation Voters endorsement

• University of Maine Political Scientist Amy Fried:

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