LEWISTON — During a campaign stop in Lewiston on Saturday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a one-time presidential contender from Massachusetts, urged voters to remember “every ugly thing Donald Trump has done and every ugly thing that the Senate and House Republicans have allowed him to do.”

Warren said that on Election Day, “we are going to hold Donald Trump accountable” and also oust U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, for supporting the president for years.

Urging voters to choose Democrat Joe Biden to replace Trump in the White House, Warren said, “This election is literally about life and death,” since more than 210,000 Americans have perished because of “a virus (we) should have had under control months ago.”

Maine is looking good—even from a distance.

Who’s ready to elect @JoeBiden, @SaraGideon, and Democrats up and down the ballot? pic.twitter.com/g8TSlWBK1n

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 10, 2020

Republican National Committee spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris dismissed her comments.

“Once again, Mainers are an afterthought to Joe Biden as he sends Far-Left Flatlander Elizabeth Warren to Maine. President Trump has always been committed to Mainers, and his record of success speaks for itself,” Mahaleris said in a prepared statement.

Collins’ campaign took a softer tone.

Annie Clark, spokesperson for Collins, said the four-term Maine senator, who is locked in a tight reelection fight against Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, “has always made it a point never to campaign against her colleagues.”

Clark said that Collins worked with Warren in 2017 “to pass a law that helped make a life-changing difference for millions of Americans with hearing loss” and that “in the years to come, she’ll work with any senator in either party to deliver results for the people of Maine and America.”

Warren spoke to a Maine Democratic Party rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 567 headquarters on Goddard Road. About 60 attended, all masked and seated at least 6 feet apart to limit the potential spread of COVID-19.

Cynthia Phinney, president of the Maine AFL-CIO, said the clock is ticking “toward one of the most important days for democracy in American history” as she urged people to vote.

Warren called voting “the beating heart of democracy” as she also pleaded for voters to show up.

“We have so much to do,” she said, “but my heart is full of hope.”

When Biden wins, the country will have a president “who has basic human empathy, who believes in the competence of government and who doesn’t always put himself first, but instead puts other people first, puts the American people first,” Warren said.

“We need a president who is a good and decent person — and that is why I’m in this fight for Joe Biden,” she said.

Elaine Makas, the chair of the Androscoggin Democratic Committee, said that Warren’s address “was just so uplifting.”

With all the hard work party activists are doing, she said, it was nice “to have someone come and tell us we can do this” with a “a nice blend of optimism” and pushing for even more effort in the final days of the race.

Warren told the Sun Journal that she’s often been at events where Collins has promised to protect Roe v. Wade, the 1973 abortion decision that cemented women’s right to choose, and to preserve health care for struggling Americans.

Yet, Warren said, Collins has “repeatedly voted for every judge that Donald Trump has put up,” including some “who are openly racist, anti-voter, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant.”

“She’s voted for all of them,” Warren said, despite her promises to the people of Maine.

That’s not quite true, though, since Collins hasn’t always gone along with Trump. In 2019 she voted against a federal appeals court candidate Trump had nominated, one of 10 nominees she has opposed. All of them were confirmed despite her opposition.

Warren said Collins ought to have at least tried to “get three or four” other senators together “to say enough is enough” and block more right-wing appointments to lifetime service as judges.

Warren said she wonders how Collins lives with herself “and I say that more out of sadness than anything else.”

“This is not just about accountability for Donald Trump. This is about accountability for Republicans in the Senate who enable Donald Trump time after time,” she told rally-goers.

Warren said that on Nov. 3, “we will hold you accountable, Susan Collins.”

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