Although Susan Collins has done some good things for Maine, it has often been too little and too late.

Giving corporations permanent tax breaks left us with record deficits to be paid and an obstacle to the Senate supporting her PPP efforts. Hoping that Trump would learn from impeachment has been mistaken, enabling him to lie to us and mismanage COVID without censure, unnecessarily increasing deaths and infections and running up business, health care, and unemployment costs instead of preventing transmission. Waiting to cast dissenting votes until McConnell safely had his majority has failed to show the leadership demonstrated by her mentor Margaret Chase Smith.

Her seniority is less of an advantage if she can’t risk losing McConnell’s blessing to exercise it. Time to switch my vote to Sara Gideon who, like Rep. Jared Golden, will show Maine’s leadership in the face of pressure and who actively supports public health.

Mark Rains

Vienna