The arm of a political action committee allied with Senate Democrats is airing a television ad in Maine accusing Sen. Susan Collins of putting her loyalty to President Trump above the needs of her constituents during the coronavirus pandemic.
The ad from Majority Forward highlights a recent report from the Bangor Daily News in which Ms. Collins complimented Mr. Trump’s handling of the virus crisis, saying “the president did a lot that was right in the beginning,” and calls on voters to demand the incumbent Republican support the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act.
The narrator in the 30-second spot says Maine doctors and nurses are “scrounging for medical supplies” and says Washington has not sent what the frontline workers need and lacks a national plan to address the shortage.
“Once again, Susan Collins defends the president. But that’s wrong for Maine,” the narrator says. “Health care workers here are reusing masks — risking their lives. ’We’ve got an umbrella in a hurricane,’ says the head of Maine’s CDC.”
The Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act would force Mr. Trump to use the Defense Production Act to require private companies to produce respirators, ventilators, face shields, medical gloves and surgical gowns.
The bill has 10 co-sponsors. Nine of them are Democrats. The other is Ms. Collin’s fellow Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent.
Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House and candidate for Ms. Collins’ seat, has vowed to support the effort.
The Collins camp responded that Ms. Gideon, who is favored to win the party’s nomination in June, was downplaying the threat of the coronavirus outbreak “before she started attacking others for not doing enough.”
Her team pointed to an audio recording obtained by The Daily Caller website from a Feb. 29 campaign event in which Ms. Gideon told a crowd in Presque Isle, Maine, that “a lot of scary information is being presented” on the coronavirus.
“For example, today I was just scrolling through the news, and I saw that every article that talked about what is happening on the West Coast had pictures of people with masks on them, to instill fear,” she said.
Ms. Collins is one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in 2020.
Democrats’ chances of flipping control of the Senate hinge in part on thwarting her quest for a fifth term.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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