Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday that she was “not prepared” to endorse President Trump in his 2020 reelection bid.
“I’m not prepared at this point to make that decision,” the senator told PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff, noting that she was focusing on her own reelection campaign.
“But do you expect at some point, between now and November of 2020, to endorse the president, since you’re a Republican?” Woodruff pressed.
“I don’t know, I’m going to have to see what happens between now and then and look at what his record is,” Collins said. "I can’t imagine that I would endorse any of the Democrats who are running right now but I’m going to focus on 2020 in 2020.”
She also refused to respond one way or the other about whether she’d endorse a GOP challenger to Trump, saying she’s “neither ruling it in nor ruling it out.”
.@JudyWoodruff: "Are you, at this point, prepared to endorse President Trump?"@SenatorCollins: "I'm really focused on my own [re-election] campaign for 2020, and I really haven't focused on the presidential campaign. So, I'm not prepared at this point to make that decision." pic.twitter.com/b31DzPJ9L3
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) January 29, 2019
While Democrats have been lining up to challenge President Trump in 2020, there have not yet been any Republicans who have announced a challenge. Former Sen. Jeff Flake put any speculation that he may challenge the president to rest this week when he told CBS's John Dickerson that he "always said that I do hope that there is a Republican who challenges the president in the primary. I still hope that somebody does, but that somebody won’t be me. I will not be a candidate.”
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