U.S. Sen. Susan Collins defended her vote for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in an interview Saturday in Washington with News Center Maine (WCSH/WLBZ).

“It’s certainly been a difficult situation – the most difficult in the 22 years I’ve been honored to represent the state of Maine in the United States Senate,” Collins said shortly after the vote on the Senate floor.

But Maine’s senior senator was clearly pained by the notion that her confirmation vote for Kavanaugh means she is abandoning women’s rights issues, the TV stations reported. She said she believed that Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was sexually assaulted, but that there was no corroboration that Kavanaugh was her assailant.

“I find it extraordinary that certain groups are now targeting me when I’ve been their advocate here in Washington for 22 years,” Collins said. “My voting record clearly shows that.”

Collins said she has to apply her best judgment.

“I cannot weigh the political consequences,” she said. “In this case, it was obvious that people would be very angry with me no matter what I did. I have to do what I think is right, and that is what I did.”