Collins, Susan Margaret (1952-…), has been a member of the United States Senate since 1997. Collins, a Republican, represents Maine.
Collins was born in Caribou, Maine, on Dec. 7, 1952. She earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University in 1975. She served for 12 years as principal adviser on business issues to Senator William S. Cohen of Maine. From 1981 to 1987, Collins was staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on the Oversight of Government Management.
In 1992 and 1993, Collins served as New England administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 1993, she was appointed deputy treasurer of Massachusetts. Collins ran for governor of Maine in 1994 but lost. From 1994 to 1996, she served as executive director of the Husson College Center for Family Business. She won election to her first term in the U.S. Senate in 1996 and took office in 1997. She was reelected in 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020.
In the Senate, Collins has focused on homeland security, national defense, and issues important to small businesses and older Americans. She became known as a moderate who sided with Democrats on a number of measures involving abortion; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights; campaign finance reform; and immigration.
