Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, reiterated to reporters that she still supports former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, despite her dropping out of the Republican presidential race.
According to local CBS reporter Dan Lampariello, Senator Haley, a Maine Republican, plans to write her name on the November ballot, instead of President Trump or President Biden.
Collins’ office confirmed to Fox News Digital that she plans to vote for Haley.
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Susan Collins (centre) said she plans to vote for Nikki Haley over Trump in November’s presidential election. (Getty Images)
A spokesman for the Maine senator noted that she had previously said she would support Haley, not Trump.
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“I’m not voting for either candidate. I’m voting in Nikki Haley’s name,” Collins said, according to another local media outlet.
The Republican senator previously endorsed Haley in the closing stages of the Republican primary, calling her an “extremely qualified” candidate.
Former South Carolina Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley attends an election eve watch party on February 24, 2024 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“She has the energy, intellect and temperament needed to lead the country through these extremely turbulent times,” Collins said of Haley.
However, Haley withdrew from the primary race shortly after announcing her endorsement.
But the former South Carolina governor’s withdrawal from the race did not change Collins’ position.
“I cannot support former President Trump. I voted to convict him in the second impeachment trial, so I don’t think it’s surprising that I cannot support him,” Haley said in March, weeks after she had already suspended her campaign.
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Donald Trump arrived at Trump Tower on May 30, 2024, after being convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
As Collins noted in the spring, she was one of seven Republican senators in 2021 who voted to convict Trump of inciting insurrection when some of his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Although Trump has emerged as the Republican front-runner to face Biden in November, Collins’s thinking does not appear to have changed.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital for comment.
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