Susan Rice hasn’t actually decided whether she’ll challenge Maine Sen. Susan Collins in 2020.
The former national security adviser to President Barack Obama made waves on Friday when she teased a potential run on Twitter. After Collins voted in favor of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court in the Senate’s cloture vote, Jen Psaki, the former White House communications director under Obama, tweeted asking who would run against Collins when her seat is on the ballot in 2020.
Rice responded to the tweet, simply writing “Me.”
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) October 5, 2018
But now Rice said she will make a decision after November’s election.
Speaking at a panel during the New Yorker festival on Sunday, Rice said she had “a lot more homework” to do before committing to running. “I made the tweet, I later elaborated that this wasn’t where my head was,” she said. “But I have been moved by the enthusiasm. I’m going to give it due consideration after the midterms.”
Rice accused Collins of putting “party and politics over her own stated principles” of supporting equal rights and abortion. Rice said she was outraged and frustrated that “somebody who fashions herself as a moderate centrist,” who has expressed support for “LGBT rights and Roe v. Wade and all this stuff, could in a very political fashion not just decide to vote for Kavanaugh but do it in a fashion that was quite dismissive of the concerns of many Americans and many Mainers.”
“So it was on that basis that I decided I would think about it,” Rice explained. Rice also noted that a potential run wouldn’t be “completely crazy,” as she’s been a homeowner in the state of Maine for about 20 years.
But, she noted, “it’s a complicated political environment. There are lots of good Democrats in the state of Maine.”
“My husband was surprised to see my tweet,” she added.