“Her family has a home in Maine, but she doesn't live in the state of Maine,” Sen. Susan Collins said of a possible electoral challenge in 2020 from former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP photo Congress Collins defends Kavanaugh vote, dismisses 2020 concerns

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) defended her decision to vote in favor of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court on Sunday and brushed aside any concerns that the backlash to her vote could cost her her Senate seat in 2020.

“Whatever the voters decide, but I’m going to do what I think is right,” Collins told CNN anchor Dana Bash. “That’s what I owe my constituents.”


Addressing a potential interest in challenging her from former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, Collins emphasized Rice does not even live in the state. The Maine Republican added that Rice “pleaded” with her to give an introduction when she was nominated to be ambassador in 2009.

“Her family has a home in Maine, but she doesn’t live in the state of Maine,” Collins said on “State of the Union.”

“Everybody knows that. But the irony is that, back in 2009 when she was nominated to be ambassador to the U.N., she came to me, even though I did not know her back then at all, and pleaded with me to introduce her before the committee, which I was happy to do because her family had links to the state of Maine.”

Rice later retweeted a Princeton professor who dug up a weekly that Collins sent at the time that praised Rice's ties to Maine.

"Dr. Rice’s ties to our great state are the foundation of her character," Collins wrote in the newsletter, paraphrasing the introduction she gave Rice before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Her grandparents emigrated from Jamaica to Portland one hundred years ago."

At the time, Collins also said she met Rice, who was then a nominee, during seminars sponsored by the Aspen Strategy Group, and praised her "brilliance."

"I was so impressed with her brilliance and nuanced insights as we discussed foreign policy challenges," Collins added.

Rice wrote on Twitter shortly after Collins announced her support of Kavanaugh that she would consider challenging her. Kavanaugh was confirmed on Saturday by the narrowest vote — 50-48 — for a Supreme Court nominee since 1881.

As for her support of Kavanaugh, Collins is adamant that the newly sworn-in justice did not sexually assault Christine Blasey Ford, despite Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she stated the she is “100 percent” certain Kavanaugh did just that in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has repeatedly and forcefully denied Ford’s allegations.

Kavanaugh's denials, combined with a lack of corroborating evidence, convinced Collins that he had done nothing wrong.

“I’m not saying she was not sexually assaulted,” Collins said of Ford. “I believe she was and that horrible experience has upended her life, but it does not mean that Brett Kavanaugh was her assailant.”