The Maine Republican Party rejected a motion on March 27 that would have censured Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) over her vote to convict former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge.
The party voted 19–41 on the motion.
Collins said in a statement that the decision “is a testament to the Party’s ‘big tent’ philosophy that respects different views but unites around core principles.”
“Our party has been most successful when it has embraced this approach to advance our shared goals of providing tax relief to families and small business job creators, pursuing fiscal responsibility and government accountability, promoting personal responsibility, protecting constitutional rights, and ensuring a strong national defense,” she said.
Collins had faced backlash from the Maine GOP after the vote.
Trump was charged by the House of Representatives with inciting an insurrection, primarily because he spoke near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in the leadup to the breach of the building. Critics pointed to phrases he uttered such as “fight like hell” to paint his words as incitement, while supporters noted he urged the crowd to remain peaceful when they marched to the Capitol.
Trump later condemned the violence at the building and urged people to vacate the premises.
“We have now set a precedent that we fear will undermine the foundation of our country and could greatly diminish our status and integrity into the future,” the Maine GOP wrote last month.
Collins, 68, won reelection to her fifth term in 2020, defeating the state’s House speaker, Sara Gideon, by about 70,000 votes.