GOP Senator May Back ... Clinton

Susan Collins says it's 'unlikely,' but still possible
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2016 6:30 AM CDT
GOP Senator May Back ... Clinton
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks with reporters.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The endorsements are rolling in quickly for Hillary Clinton—from the likes of President Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, etc—and now comes word of possible support from a highly unusual source: a sitting Republican senator. Maine's Susan Collins tells the New Yorker that she's not ruling out voting for Clinton, and she cites Donald Trump's remarks concerning Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage. They're "an order of magnitude more serious" than any of Trump's previous controversies, says Collins. The senator makes clear that her voting for Clinton is still a long shot: "I do not anticipate voting for her this fall." But, she adds, "I’m not going to say never."

At that point, the magazine's Ryan Lizza presses her on the point—she's really open to the possibility of ditching Trump for Clinton? "That is true,” she answers. “But I do want to qualify that by saying it is unlikely that I would choose to vote for the Democratic candidate.” A post at the conservative Hot Air site wonders why Collins wouldn't just abstain from voting if she considers Trump unpalatable, but then adds, "Go figure that a centrist near-Democrat wouldn’t have much problem with a centrist Democrat as president." (More Susan Collins stories.)

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