Republican Sen. Susan Collins speaks to Politico’s Jonathan Martin about her new Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson: <\/p>\n
JONATHAN MARTIN: Wouldn’t [Platner] have been an easier candidate for you to beat, given that paper trail, than running against a Democrat from the county where you hail from in northern Maine, Troy Jackson? It just seems like Platner would have been easier for you to beat, and it got harder with Jackson. Is that- SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Well, they have different vulnerabilities. They really do. Under Troy Jackson’s leadership in Augusta, electric rates have skyrocketed. Mainers’ are the fourth-highest in the country, and he voted against a bill recommended by the independent public advocate that would have helped to lower rates. So that’s a huge vulnerability. Anyone who has a record has vulnerabilities that a person without a record, like Graham Platner, does not have. JONATHAN MARTIN: But you’ve been in a lot of campaigns, Senator. You worked as a staffer on the Hill. If you were offered the chance to run against somebody who had a Nazi tattoo and a paper trail of sexual assault accusations versus a conventional politician who voted to increase utility rates- SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Well, I would suggest that they have different strengths and different weaknesses, and that Troy has changed his position on a whole lot of issues. You know, he started out as a very conservative Republican. Now he’s essentially a democratic socialist. JONATHAN MARTIN: Should the circumstances of his personal life and the mother of his children be relevant to this campaign? Is that fair game, do you think? SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Well, I’m not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin. I don’t know whether people know that or not. JONATHAN MARTIN: I think you just mentioned it. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here is Sen Collins’ full interview with Politico’s Jonathan Martin: