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Susan Collins

Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee

Party
R
State
Maine
Age
73
Serving since
1997

Rhetoric score

8.7

Coalition

Institutional conservative

Longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate; not MAGA-aligned, one of the few Northeastern Republicans in Congress.

Source: Wikipedia / Congressional biography

Political diagram

SCJFJHWarmer toward own party →Warmer toward opposition →

Dashed outline = not enough directed statements yet for one axis (plotted at the midpoint rather than guessed). Position updates automatically as new rhetoric is scored \u2014 it isn't hand-placed.

Rhetoric

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Toward their own party (Republicans)

No statements directed at their own party found in this window.

Toward the opposition (Democrats)

No statements directed at the opposition found in this window.

General / not directed at either party

2026-01-15 · Floor speech · collins.senate.gov

Remarks after passage of funding package

9.0

“The Senate has passed three more bills by a strong bipartisan vote.”

Credits the vote as bipartisan, no opposing-party blame, procedural tone.

2026-01-12 · Floor speech · collins.senate.gov

Remarks ahead of cloture vote

9.0

“A carefully negotiated, fiscally responsible, bipartisan and bicameral package.”

Emphasizes negotiation and joint ownership of the deal across chambers and parties.

2025-11-09 · Written statement · appropriations.senate.gov

Statement on deal to reopen government

8.0

“Reopen government immediately…and provide back pay to all federal workers.”

Frames the outcome around beneficiaries, not blame toward Democrats.

Campaign finance

Top industries

Health careFinance/insuranceDefense

Largest identifiable source

AIPAC-bundled contributions

~$538,000 in one recent filing period (~20% of 2025 receipts) · Collins for Senator

Donor base tracks her committee assignments (Appropriations, HELP); this is a partial snapshot of reported top industries and the single largest identifiable source, not a full analysis.

Source: OpenSecrets.org, Bangor Daily News, Legis1 — 2025–2026 cycle

Legislative activity

Sponsored

1,205

Cosponsored

6,622

Career totals · Source: Congress.gov · Last pulled 7/23/2026

Staffers

Not yet collected. Aggregate senior-staff donor-lean data has not been pulled for this office yet. This section is intentionally left blank rather than estimated.