Susan Collins, senior U.S. Senator from Maine, announced her support for marriage equality yesterday. She pledged her support in a response to a questionnaire in Maine’s Bangor Daily News. Before doing so, Senator Collins was silent on the matter because, according to her spokesperson, she did not want to involve herself in state-level politics. Her support makes her the fourth Republican senator to state her support for marriage equality, following Senators Rob Portman (OH), Mark Kirk (IL), and Lisa Murkowski (AK).
Colllins' Democratic opponent, Shenna Bellows, is a former executive director for the ACLU of Maine and was heavily involved in the campaigns to bring and keep marriage equality in the state in 2009 and 2012. Current polls show Bellows trailing behind Collins, but anything could happen between now and November.
As more politicians of both political parties come out in support of marriage equality, it builds momentum to finally bring marriage to the whole country.