Susan Collins Used Her Office to Help Her Former Lobbyist Husband

September 16, 2020

By Dan Desai Martin

A new campaign ad slams Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for promoting policies that benefitted her husband, who was a lobbyist.

“Susan Collins has a secret,” the ad from Democratic nominee Sara Gideon states. “Collins pushed for policies that benefitted her husband’s lobbying business [and] voted to repeal attacks on firms like his.” The narrator also states that Collins fought against a push by President Barack Obama to force such companies to disclose contributions.

The ad concludes by stating that Collins is “not for you anymore.”

Collins’ husband, Thomas Daffron, was chief operating officer of the Jefferson Consulting Group, a lobbying firm, until he retired in 2016. Before joining Jefferson, Daffron was chief of staff to three Republican senators.

According to HuffPost, Daffron’s company received nearly $60 million in government contracts from 2002 through 2016.

Collins’ cozy relationship with lobbyists has been the target of previous ads in this election cycle.

Duty and Honor, a left-leaning group, released an ad at the beginning of September attacking both Collins and Daffron for their response to the opioid crisis and highlighting Daffron’s career as a lobbyist.

“Collins’ husband, a former lobbyist, profited off the opioid crisis, making money owning and selling stocks in drug companies,” the ad stated.

“After 24 years in Washington, Collins has made it clear that she’ll put her special interest pals and corporate backers ahead of working families here in Maine,” Lisa Roberts, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said in a Sept. 1 press release.

Democrats are targeting Collins’ seat as part of a path back to the Senate majority. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber but are in danger of losing it in November.

Gideon holds a 4.5 point lead over Collins in an average of recent polls, according to Real Clear Politics, leading in four polls released in July. The most recent statewide poll from early September, released by Citizen Data, showed Gideon with an 8-point lead.

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