Progressive group endorses Collins challenger in Maine

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has endorsed Democrat Shenna Bellows for Senate in Maine.

The endorsement follows a strong fundraising quarter for the candidate, during which she outraised Sen. Susan Collins, bringing in $331,000 to Collins’ $315,000.

{mosads}PCCC co-founder Stephnaie Taylor compared Bellows, the former executive director of Maine’s American Civil Liberties Union, to another prominent PCCC-backed politician: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“We call Shenna Bellows the ‘Elizabeth Warren of civil liberties’ because she’s campaigning boldly on constitutional freedom and economic populism,” Taylor said in a statement. “Like Elizabeth Warren’s challenge to former Sen. Scott Brown, many insiders thought Susan Collins was unbeatable. Until now.”

PCCC is fundraising for Bellows’ campaign from its more than 5,700 members in Maine and nearly 1 million members nationwide.

In a fundraising pitch sent out on her behalf, Taylor asks supporters to help “expand the map” by contributing to her campaign.

Collins isn’t considered particularly vulnerable — in the last survey of the race, conducted in November, she led Bellows with nearly 60 percent of the vote, and she has more than $3 million cash on hand. The blue tint of Maine, however, has some Democrats excited at the prospect of a strong challenger confronting Collins in November.