Crowdfunding campaign pushing for Collins to vote against Kavanaugh passes $1M

A crowdfunding campaign aimed at encouraging Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to vote against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, surpassed $1 million on Tuesday.

The national “Be A Hero” campaign encouraged people to donate at least $20.20 to a future Collins Democratic challenger if she votes “yes” on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. 

Collins is not up for reelection until 2020.

{mosads}The money will be charged to donors if she votes to approve Kavanaugh, organizers said.

More than 36,500 people made pledges totaling more than $1,018,200 on the Crowdpac page as of Tuesday afternoon.

Maine People’s Alliance and Mainers for Accountable Leadership have teamed up for the effort and have an ultimate goal of raising $1.3 million.

“Your swing vote could decide whether a rubber stamp for Trump’s anti-healthcare, anti-woman, anti-labor agenda gets confirmed to the Supreme Court–costing millions of Americans their healthcare, their right to choose, and their lives,” the Crowdpac page reads.

Collins brushed off the campaign earlier Tuesday.

“I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” Collins told conservative news outlet Newsmax.

She said the crowdfunding does nothing to influence her vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“I think it demonstrates the new lows to which the judge’s opponents have stooped,” Collins said.

The centrist Republican is seen as a swing vote in the confirmation process and said she would not vote for a nominee who was “hostile” toward the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Activists sent Collins 3,000 coat hangers — a symbol of back-alley abortions — in efforts to persuade her to vote “no.” 

She said Kavanaugh, during a meeting, told her he considered the case to be established precedent.