Susan Rice, national security advisor in the Obama administration whose mother grew up in Portland, touched off a buzz of speculation Friday when she responded “Me” when another former Obama official asked in a tweet who would run for Senate in Maine against Sen. Susan Collins, following Collins’ announcement that she would vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

About an hour after Collins’ announcement, Jen Psaki, communication director at the Obama White House, asked in a tweet “who wants to run for Senate in Maine? there will be an army of supporters with you.”

Rice tweeted back shortly “Me” almost immediately, then backtracked 25 minutes later with the tweet “Many thanks for the encouragement. I’m not making any announcements. Like so many Americans, I am deeply disappointed in Senator Collins’ vote for Kavanaugh. Maine and American deserve better,” she tweeted.

Rice, who was United Nations ambassador under Obama, has strong ties to Maine. She received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College this year. Her mother, the late Lois Dickson Rice, who went to Portland High School, received an honorary degree from the Brunswick college in 1984. Four of Rice’s uncles and two cousins are Bowdoin alumni. Rice’s mother, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was born in Portland in 1933 and raised on Lafayette Street.

Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

Twitter: @bquimby

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