Susan Rice says she has been ‘moved by the enthusiasm’ for her possible Senate run

Former national security adviser Susan Rice says she has been “moved by the enthusiasm” expressed by Democrats about her possible Senate run against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). 

Rice this week appeared to partially walk back her suggestion that she would run against Collins in 2020, but she said on Sunday that she will give it “due consideration.” 

{mosads}”I have been moved by the enthusiasm,” Rice told The New Yorker. “I’m going to give it due consideration after the midterms.”

Rice evoked a strong reaction last week when she tweeted “me” in response to a post from former White House communications director Jen Psaki asking, “Who wants to run for Senate in Maine? There will be an army of supporters with you.” 

Rice later said she was “not making any announcements.”

Rice, who served in the Obama administration, sent the tweet following Collins’s “yes” vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Collins was a pivotal undecided swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Collins on Sunday dismissed a possible challenge from Rice, saying that “everybody knows” the former national security adviser does not live in Maine.

Rice during a New Yorker event on Sunday defended her ties to the state. 

“My ties to Maine are long and deep,” she said. “My family goes back generations. My grandparents emigrated to Portland, Maine, in 1912. They stayed in Maine until they died; they raised five children there. For the last twenty years, I’ve been a homeowner in the state of Maine.” 

“It’s a complicated political environment,” she continued. “There are lots of good Democrats in the state of Maine. I will have to do a lot more homework before I make a decision.” 

Progressive groups in Maine have pledged over $3 million to Collins’s 2020 opponent in protest of her Kavanaugh vote.

“Like so many Americans, I am deeply disappointed in Senator Collins’ vote for Kavanaugh,” Rice tweeted over the weekend. “Maine and America deserve better.”