Susan Collins signals she won’t campaign against Biden

Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) said she will not campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

Collins said in an interview with The New York Times that she does not campaign against former colleagues. Collins and and Biden served together in the Senate.

The New England senator said she knows Biden “very well” from their days serving in the upper chamber together and that she doesn’t plan to violate her own rule.

“I do not campaign against my colleagues in the Senate,” Collins told the Times.

Collins, a moderate in her party, said publicly in 2016 that she would not be voting for President Trump. 

She has since progressively fallen out favor with Trump and has been reluctant to say if she supports his reelection bid. 

“My inclination is just to stay out of the presidential and focus on my own race,” Collins said. 

Collins has been a target for Democrats since she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court after several allegations of sexual assault were brought against him. She has also faced scrutiny after voting to acquit Trump on impeachment charges. 

Democrats are backing Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon (D) for the nomination to take on Collins in November. Gideon outraised the senator in the first quarter. 

According to RealClearPolitics, Gideon and Collins are running neck and neck in polls.