Susan Collins – One Of The Most Powerful Women Senators

When you talk about the most powerful women in the United States Senate you won't fail to mention the name Susan Collins. She currently serves as United States Senator for Maine. She is a republican and is the Chair of the Senate special Committee on Aging, dean of Maine's congressional delegation and was formerly Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. She also served in other subcommittees like subcommittee on Defence, subcommittee on energy and water development, subcommittee on agriculture amongst many others. She has an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bates College given to her as a result of her bipartisan work in the Senate.

Susan Collins Bio

She was born Susan Margaret Collins on December 7, 1952 in Caribou, Maine among six children. Her family is politically influential and owns a lumber business set up by her ancestor, Samuel W. Collins, in 1844. Her father and mother each served as mayor of Caribou. Her father was also a well decorated World War II vet who also served in both house of representatives and the senate. Her family is of English and Irish descent. She also has an uncle who sat on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and served in the Maine Senate. Susan attended Caribou High School and became president of the student council. By her senior year of high school she was already a participant in the U. S. Senate Youth Program. She also visited Washington, D. C. for the first time and then met with Maine's first female United States Senator, Margaret Chase Smith who was also a Republican. They bonded and Margaret became Susan's mentor and role model. After graduation from Caribou High, she began studying at the St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society and she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in government in 1975. Career After graduating, Susan became an assistant to the then U. S. Representative and Senator William Cohen. She also was staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee on the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. In 1987, Susan was appointed by Governor John R. McKernan, Jr. , to be Commissioner for the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.

In 1992 She became the New England regional director for the Small Business Administration, a job given to her by President George H. W. Bush. And then in 1993 she moved over to Massachusetts to become Deputy State Treasurer of Massachusetts under Joe Malone. She returned to Maine in 1994 to run for the gubernatorial seat, being the first woman to have been nominated by a major party for the Gubernatorial seat of Maine which she later lost to Angus King.

Later that year Susan founded the Center for Family Business at Husson College, Bangor, Maine and from there resumed her political pursuit in 1996, this time around she went for the seat in the U. S. Senate which she won. Since then she has been reelected in 2002, 2008 and again in 2014 defeating her various opponents. She is widely considered a member of the Republican Party with moderate political views, she is also heavyweight in the U. S. Senate. Being an avid member of quiet a number of organizations within the Republican Party including the The Wish List, Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans for Environmental Protection and some others, she has regularly received endorsements from the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that majors in LGBT rights. Susan has played important roles including helping to keep Bill Clinton in office when the U. S. Senate held an impeachment trial for him, also supporting a proposal made by Tom Daschle banning any abortion that tampers with the fetus when it was able to live outside the womb with exceptions to pregnancies that might be life threatening. She has played pivotal roles in these and so many other economic, social, judicial and legislative matters. Networth Susan Collins was recently named as one of the ten most powerful Women in Washington. She has received so many other awards and honors including the " Congressional Sea Services Award " of the Navy League, the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the US. Chamber of Commerce, the "Legislator of the Year Award" which was given by the Congressional Fire Services Institute and also a "Thought Leader Award" which came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

All these and so many other numerous awards and honors has she received. She also has numerous political appointments and ofcourse with all this comes alot of cash. She has a networth of over $4million. Susan Collins Husband Susan is an epitome of what it means to be a career woman and never really had time for marriage as all she did was focus on her career. However, at 59 she married a man named Thomas Daffron on August 11, 2012. Thomas Daffron was formerly COO of Jefferson Consulting Group. He was a former reporter and has worked as a top staff for numerous Congress men. Their relationship goes way back as he once hired her as his intern when she was just 21. The marriage is a rare one as one can hardly find a couple wedding at such age but Susan and Thomas seem to be enjoying every bit of their time together.

Other Interesting Facts

There are other interesting facts about her which include:

1. She is a senior United States Senator and the most senior female senator in the Congress.
2. She has never missed a vote ever since she became senator. Her long consecutive voting streak is over 6,000 votes
3. She is a pro-choice republican. She strongly supports abortion rights movements and is also regularly endorsed by them.
4. She is currently the most bipartisan senator in the United States Congress. She is noted for being able to quickly find common ground of compromise with other colleagues from other parties despite their ideology and beliefs.
5. She has donors top of whom are General Dynamics a defense and weapons industry, Cohen Group a business firm and Elliott Management an investment management firm which owns the largest activist fund in the world.