Susan Collins reveals medical condition but says her job as senator is unaffected | US politics
Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine viewed by Democrats as vulnerable in the November midterm elections, revealed that a decades-old health problem she said affects her appearance but not her ability to do her job.
Collins, 73, told NBC affiliate News Center Maine that she suffers from a benign essential tremor that she treats with medication, which sometimes causes her hands, arms and head to shake.
“I had it the entire time I served in the United States Senate,” Collins told the outlet, adding that it was an “extremely common” condition. “It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or how I feel on a daily basis,” she said.
The health of Collins — first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and the longest-serving Republican woman in the chamber — has recently come under scrutiny. She is currently serving her fifth term in a state that Democrats view as one likely to flip control of the Senate in November.
Polls compiled by RealClearPolitics give his presumptive Democratic opponent, Graham Platner, a single-digit advantage less than six months before Election Day. Janet Mills, the former Democratic governor of Maine and previous front-runner, suspended her Senate campaign last week.
Collins has angered fellow Republicans by frequently voting with Democrats, particularly during the Biden administration. In 2021, she was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump following his second impeachment for inciting the deadly January 6 riots in Washington, DC.
Revealing his medical diagnosis, and reassurance that it does not affect his work, will likely be seen as an attempt to shore up his support. She said she had not missed a vote in three decades as a U.S. senator and was confident in her ability to serve another six-year term.
“If you talk to anyone in Washington, they’ll tell you I’m the hardest-working person they’ve ever worked with,” Collins said. Her election results were “pretty good evidence that I enjoy excellent health,” she suggested. “It’s annoying sometimes, but that’s all.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, essential tremor is a neurological condition sometimes mistaken for Parkinson’s disease. It is more common in people over the age of 40 and can get worse over time.
“This causes rhythmic tremors that you cannot control,” the clinic says on its website. “Essential tremor can affect almost any part of the body, but tremors most commonly occur in the hands. Tremors mostly occur during simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.”
Rees Cosgrove, chief of the division of functional neurosurgery at Mass General Brigham Health System in Boston, told News Center Maine that about 5 percent of adults over 40 have some form of essential tremor, with the figure rising to 20 percent among those over 65.
“It is not associated with other neurological impairments,” he said. “So it’s not associated with cognitive decline or memory decline. It’s not associated with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s not Parkinson’s disease.”
A report in Newsweek on Thursday said renewed scrutiny of Collins’ health began after she announced plans to run again in February, and that she was seen in campaign launch videos with “visible tremors in her hands and a warble in her voice.”
On Monday, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein posted a video of Collins shaking on X and asked, “Can we talk about the fact that Senator Susan Collins, 73, is clearly in physical decline?”
Platner, a former military officer, pointed to comments Collins made during her 1996 campaign in which she said she would only serve two terms if elected. “Twelve years is long enough to be in public service, make a contribution, and then come home and let someone else take over,” she said at the time.
