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U.S. Sen. Susan Collins gave a neutral reaction Friday to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the nation’s top public health official.
The centrist Republican is back in a familiar place at the center of battles to push Trump’s set of unorthodox Cabinet nominees through the Senate. That growing list of picks is headlined by Kennedy as well as former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, whom Trump has tapped as his nominee for attorney general despite allegations of sex trafficking that Gaetz denies.
The news: Collins was dealing with a long list of Trump-related questions during a gaggle with the Maine media after giving the keynote address at a Maine State Police graduation ceremony in Vassalboro on Friday morning.
Collins made clear that she opposes Trump’s call for the Senate to bypass the normal confirmation process and allow him to make temporary recess appointments to Cabinet positions. She sits on the health panel that would hold a hearing on Kennedy’s nomination.
The Maine senator said it would be “premature” to take a position on him and other nominees until the process is over. Earlier this week, she called some of his past statements “alarming.” Kennedy has falsely linked vaccines to autism and said the Trump administration will seek to remove fluoride from public water systems.
“I anticipate having ample opportunity to question him and learn more about his views,” Collins said.That fell short of Collins’ immediate reaction to Trump’s pick of Gaetz, which she said “shocked” her. On Friday, she said that was due to the serious allegations against the nominee, who was investigated but not charged by the Department of Justice he has been tapped to lead.
The stakes: Trump’s first round of picks — particularly Gaetz and Kennedy — has been branded as a “loyalty test” with Republicans who will fully control Washington next year. He is buoyed by a convincing win over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Taken together, this group of nominees will challenge Senate institutionalists including Collins, who said Thursday that she plans to run for a sixth term in 2026.
What’s really happening: Collins prompted a massive Democratic challenge in 2020 with her earlier vote for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But she also bucked Trump several times, including when she prompted censure votes from Maine Republicans by voting to convict him on a 2021 impeachment charge related to the Capitol riots.
She was able to deftly balance her support from conservatives with keeping enough swing support to win her 2020 election against Democrat Sara Gideon. The next two years will take another effort like that, perhaps under a more erratic White House.
The other side: Maine Democrats have been messaging more aggressively against Collins over the past week, including after her reaction Wednesday to Gaetz’s pick while nodding to the senator’s proclamation that she cast a write-in vote during this year’s presidential election.
“Now that Trump has been safely re-elected, Suzy is free to be shocked & appalled again,” the party said on social media.