Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com
For 18 years, I supported Susan Collins.
I was proud to support a moderate, pro-choice Republican woman from Maine. I respected her work ethic, bipartisan instincts and independence. I believed her growing seniority would translate into greater benefits for Maine.
Over time, I began to see the limits of that bargain.
Collins has been exceptionally effective at bringing federal money home. That matters. But too often it has looked like spackle on a state with deep structural cracks.
Maine has lost much of the value-added economy that once turned our natural resources into good jobs: paper, shoes, textiles, manufactured housing, wood products and food processing. We have spent decades managing the consequences.
A state in decline needs a strong social safety net. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, rural health care and education are essential. But survival is not an economic strategy.
Maine also needs federal policy aimed at rebuilding prosperity: infrastructure, energy, housing, workforce development, research, manufacturing and industries that create good jobs.
After nearly three decades in office, I wanted Collins’ seniority to mean more than appropriations and occasional independence.
Her vote for Brett Kavanaugh became a turning point for me.
Troy Jackson is imperfect. I will not agree with him on everything. But he comes from the Maine economy I am describing and understands economic insecurity from the ground up.
I support Troy Jackson, warts and all, because Maine needs more than help managing decline. We need leadership determined to reverse it.
Brenda Garrand
Rockland