ICYMI: Collins Boosting Anti-Abortion VA Gov Candidate

Reporting reveals Collins fundraising appeal boosting Winsome Earle-Sears

Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, Susan Collins is boosting Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, someone "who has called abortion 'genocide,' suggested that consenting to sex is consenting to pregnancy, and has pledged, if elected, to sign an abortion ban at 15 weeks or earlier."

Collins' backing of Earle-Sears comes after Collins' decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh led to the overturning Roe v. Wade, and as Collins continues to confirm anti-choice judges.

Read and see more:

New Republic: Why Is Susan Collins Mixed Up in the Virginia Governor's Race?
By Susan Rinkunas
October 31, 2025

• Unpopular Maine Senator Susan Collins has waded into next week's governor's race in Virginia to raise money for an anti-abortion candidate.

• The New Republic obtained a fundraising email that the Collins campaign sent Wednesday morning in support of Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

• Collins' oddly-timed decision to insert herself into the race on Earle-Sears' behalf is a curiosity. The perpetually concerned Maine Senator [...had] a heavy hand in the construction of the Roe-gutting conservative Supreme Court supermajority-yet she is sticking her neck out for a candidate who has called abortion "genocide," suggested that consenting to sex is consenting to pregnancy, and has pledged, if elected, to sign an abortion ban at 15 weeks or earlier.

• The email subject line from the Collins campaign reads "BIGGEST race of 2025," while the body says "It's Winsome Earle-Sears. I'm locked in the BIGGEST race of 2025. Can you chip in to help me win this?" Underneath a donate button and a photo of Earle-Sears is a box that reads "paid for by Collins for Senator," the name of her campaign committee.

• Clicking the donate button sends viewers to a WinRed page, a fundraising platform for the Republican Party, with Earle-Sears' campaign logo at the top. A donation plea reads "George Soros and Hollywood liberals are all stacking BIG money against me and my team in this must-win race. Please donate even just $10 to help me keep up with the Left's dark money!" Fine-print enthusiasts, take note: Small text under red buttons with different amounts specifies that donations "will benefit Collins for Senator," rather than a split donation between the two campaigns, or to Earle-Sears' campaign only.

• The New Republic reached out to the Collins campaign for comment on the fundraising pitch, if she's endorsing Earle-Sears, and if she supports an abortion ban in Virginia but they did not respond by publication time.

• Earle-Sears has taken far-right positions on issues beyond abortion. During an October 9 debate, Earle-Sears said it is not discrimination to fire someone for being gay, a moment which Spanberger made hay of on social media. The Collins email was sent nearly three weeks after those damning comments, and after news broke that Earle-Sears made a $1,800 donation to the Richmond-based Family Foundation which has described in vitro fertilization, or IVF, as "child trafficking." Earle-Sears also opposes marriage equality. Earle-Sears also opposes same-sex marriage, which alarms LGBTQ advocates since the state has a ban on the books that could spring back to life if the Supreme Court overturns the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. (It's one of 32 states that would automatically ban same-sex marriage the precedent is overturned.)

• It's curious that Collins is using her email list to support a doomed campaign, especially when her own favorability is negative 20 points-36 percent approval against 56 percent disapproval, per October data from Morning Consult. For comparison, at this point in the cycle before she won re-election in 2020, she was at 52 percent approve and 39 percent disapprove, for a net positive of 13 points. And that was before two of the Supreme Court justices she confirmed voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. (She was a no on Amy Coney Barrett only after it was clear she'd get confirmed anyway.) Collins faces re-election next year, and while she has not officially declared her candidacy, she told CNN in May: "It's certainly my inclination to run and I'm preparing to do so."

• So far in 2025, Collins has also voted to confirm at least eight explicitly anti-abortion judges to lifetime seats on the federal judiciary, one as recently as this week. It seems plausible she knows she's likely to lose next November and is no longer even trying to court voters. It's no longer of concern to her.

###