Former President George W. Bush endorsed Sen. Susan Collins
Susan Margaret CollinsFive takeaways from the battle for the Senate Susan Collins: 'We must all respect the outcome of elections' Trump surrogate on election legal challenges: 'Hopefully Amy Coney Barrett will come through' MORE (R-Maine) for reelection on Friday, giving a boost to one of the GOP’s most vulnerable senators in 2020.
“She’s honest, period. She’s forthright, period,” Bush told The Associated Press after having lunch with Collins at his vacation home in Maine.
“She brings dignity into a world that has gotten really ugly,” Bush added.
The endorsement is Bush’s first of the cycle. He has largely steered clear of campaign politics since President Trump
Donald John Trump Republican Philadelphia official responsible for vote counting says office getting death threats Biden will call governors, mayors about mask mandate Trump campaign voter fraud hotline flooded with prank calls MORE was elected in 2016.
A Quinnipiac University survey released earlier this month found Democrat Sara Gideon leading Collins by 4 points, 47 percent to 43 percent.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a "toss-up."
Money has been pouring into the race, with Gideon, the Speaker of the Maine state House, drawing an astonishing $23 million so far this cycle, compared to $16.3 million for Collins.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonThe Memo: Trump lost but is not vanquished This election wasn't a zero-sum game, and it's going to be messy Trump gains with Latino voters driven by rural support MORE carried Maine by less than 3 points in 2016. The Trump campaign has circled the state as one of three battlegrounds that it believes it can flip in 2020.
Collins has at times criticized Trump, and she voted against his effort to repeal ObamaCare. However, Democrats have cast her as a rubber stamp for Trump’s agenda, and some of the president’s Republican critics say she has not done enough to stand up to him.
