Democratic voters who used to back Susan Collins aren’t so sure anymore
Democratic voters who previously supported Republican Senator Susan Collins are reevaluating her moderate reputation. Some, like Kim Bridgham, voted for Collins in 2020 while also backing President Joe Biden, citing her perceived centrism. The article notes a potential shift in Collins' support among Maine Democrats.
- ▪Susan Collins has built electoral success in Maine by appealing to moderate voters.
- ▪Kim Bridgham, a 62‑year‑old Democrat, gave Collins the benefit of the doubt in 2020 while also supporting Joe Biden.
- ▪These voters are now questioning Collins' moderation and alignment with Republican policies.
- ▪The piece suggests a possible erosion of Collins' Democratic crossover support in Maine.
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| Original publisher | Washington Post — Politics |
| Canonical URL | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/08/democratic-voters-who-used-back-susan-collins-arent-so-sure-anymore/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-08T09:05:41.838Z |
| Last seen | 2026-08-08T09:05:49.952Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | o_GABj_kWDGZ |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
By Liz Goodwin and Alexei KoseffSCARBOROUGH, Maine— Susan Collins, the Republican senator and political powerhouse, has built her victories in this blue state on voters like Kim Bridgham.“I just gave her the benefit of the doubt,” the 62-year-old Democrat said of her decision to vote for Collins in 2020, while simultaneously backing Democrat Joe Biden. “I tend to be somewhat moderate, and I used to believe that she was a moderate.” CommentsSign up
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