Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

There are undoubtedly perks associated with growing up in Maine, but one of the sad truths is that at age 13, I was forced—along with the rest of my high school—to listen to Susan Collins.

It was fall 2006, and Senator Collins spoke in our high school’s auditorium, which I note—to provide a sense of scale—doubled as our cafeteria. Collins has never been an engaging speaker, and this day was no exception; a Daily Kos post from around then suggests she discussed “ethics in public office.” I wonder whether she believed this would genuinely engage a crowd of sleep-deprived teenagers on a Tuesday morning; I doubt she cared. For Collins, bland has always played fine. Two years after that speech, she’d earn a third Senate term with more than sixty-one percent of the vote—in a state that was simultaneously lumbering to the polls for Barack Obama—and in 2014, she cruised to a fourth term with a whopping sixty-eight percent.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.

Hi! This is Lexie of Read by AI.