RightDataUSA


Susan Collins

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 7, 1952 in Caribou, ME

Education:

  • St. Lawrence University, B.A., 1975

Career:

  • Aide to Sen. William Cohen, 1975-1987
  • Staff director, U.S. Senate Subcommittee, 1981-1987
  • ME Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, 1987-1992
  • Regional director of Small Business Administration, 1992
  • Director, Center for Family Business at Husson College, 1994-1996


Election Results for Susan Collins


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1994 41 ME R Governor Primary 1 19,477 21.5%
1994 41 ME R Governor General 3 117,990 23.1%
1996 43 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 53,339 55.5%
1996 43 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 298,422 49.2%
2002 49 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 74,643 100.0%
2002 49 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 295,041 58.4%
2008 55 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 56,304 100.0%
2008 55 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 444,300 61.3%
2014 61 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 53,416 98.9%
2014 61 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 413,505 68.5%
2020 67 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 87,375 98.8%
2020 67 ME R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 417,645 51.0%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Susan Collins


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1997 44 Senate 68 32 61 39 D 76 24 100 50 50
1998 45 Senate 88 13 67 33 D 63 38 100 35 36
1999 46 Senate 74 26 74 26 D 49 51 100 25 64
2000 47 Senate 74 26 74 26 D 58 42 100 30 76
2001 48 Senate 67 33 R 87 13 100 35 64
2002 49 Senate 58 42 R 91 9 100 35 55
2003 50 Senate 78 22 R 87 13 100 45 45
2004 51 Senate 78 22 R 88 12 100 45 68
2005 52 Senate 59 41 R 64 36 100 65 32
2006 53 Senate 66 34 R 79 21 100 45 48
2007 54 Senate 50 50 R 61 39 100 55 36
2008 55 Senate 45 55 R 59 41 100 75 20
2009 56 Senate 48 52 D 86 14 100 65 48
2010 57 Senate 69 31 D 68 32 100 40 64
2011 58 Senate 48 52 D 72 28 100 45 55
2012 59 Senate 39 61 D 78 22 100 45 20
2013 60 Senate 44 56 D 75 25 100 50 28
2014 61 Senate 43 57 D 75 25 100 35 44
2015 62 Senate 63 37 D 68 32 100 30 21
2016 63 Senate 55 45 D 74 26 100 50 24
2017 64 Senate 87 13 R 93 7 100 30 48
2018 65 Senate 83 17 R 94 6 100 20 41
2019 66 Senate 78 22 R 86 14 100 50 24
2020 67 Senate 83 17 R 89 11 100 25 35
2021 68 Senate 41 59 D 86 14 100 30 39
2022 69 Senate 29 71 D 79 21 100 38
2023 70 Senate 34 63 D 100 54
2024 71 Senate 38 62 D 100
Lifetime conservative rating:   44%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.