By Senator Susan M. Collins

On Nov. 4, the people of Maine entrusted me to serve a third term in the United States Senate during one of the most troubled times in American history.

I am deeply honored, and I pledge to continue to work with colleagues, old and new, as well as with our new president to forge solutions to the many challenges we are facing.

Like all candidates, I am so grateful for the support I received throughout this long campaign – from my family, my talented staff, and the countless volunteers who helped organize communities throughout our state. Their hard work allowed me to carry every one of Maine’s 16 counties. The Collins for Senator bus tour throughout Maine was a big success, particularly our “First Responders Bus Tour” where firefighters, police officers, and other first responders joined me on the bus for the day as we were led by a caravan of firefighters on motorcycles from Kittery to Freeport with stops at fire stations along the way. Other days our bus took me to meet with workers at two rope manufacturers in Biddeford, the New Balance factory in Norridgewock, the shipyard in Bath, and Vic Firth’s drumstick plant in Newport.

During the last few days of the campaign, our bus covered more than 1,000 miles, traveling from Eliot to Madawaska and spending a day in Washington County visiting several small communities.

On Election Day, we started at my hometown in Caribou with a breakfast for supporters, then had rallies in Bangor and Lewiston-Auburn, and ended the evening in Portland. At every stop, in town after town, I very much enjoyed meeting and talking with so many caring and hard-working people in their hometowns.

The consistent theme of our conversations was that our nation faces great economic, energy, and foreign challenges that require a bipartisan approach and an end to the divisive partisanship that has blocked progress on so many fronts. 

Indeed, as the votes were counted, the barriers of partisanship were broken by calls for unity. President-elect Obama was humble in victory, reaching out to all Americans, both supporters and opponents. 

Senator McCain was gracious in defeat. In his remarkable concession speech, he noted the record-breaking voter turnout and the election of our first African-American president: “Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth… Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country.”

I look forward to working with President Obama and Vice President Biden and will continue to reach across the aisle, as I have always done, to address the challenges that confront our nation. Since the election, I have received phone calls from many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who are eager to get to work.

Above all, as Veterans’ Day approaches, I am grateful to those who make our democracy possible – the men and women of our armed forces. Those who serve today and our veterans are the guardians of the freedom we exercise every Election Day. As Americans, we all cherish this freedom, and we honor those who defend it. 

All too often, the focus in politics – and particularly in political campaigns – is on what divides us. The focus of my campaign, and of my public service, has been on what unites us.

Despite our differences, Americans share the enduring values of civility, of respect for the views of others, and of working together to solve problems. I am profoundly grateful that the people of Maine have again chosen me to stand for these values in the United States Senate.

Editor’s note: Sen. Collins distributes a weekly column to various news media. The Post normally declines to print these columns but made an exception in light of her election victory. This column was written Nov. 8.