SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine—In the state’s largest shopping mall, where photos of Republican Sen. Susan Collins hang on the optometrist’s wall, local residents who arrive early to walk the corridors or get morning coffee tick off the ways they say the veteran lawmaker has done the state proud.
“She really does try to contemplate the issues and do the best job she can,” said Robert Stear, a 73-year-old registered independent who lives in nearby Cape Elizabeth. “I don’t always agree with her final decision on things, but in the overall,…