Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins has not missed a vote since she joined the Senate in 1997, and on Wednesday became the first senator to cast 9,750 roll call votes without missing any in her career.

But Ms. Collins is still in second place in the rankings of unbroken Senate voting streaks.

Former Sen. William Proxmire, a Wisconsin Democrat, missed some votes early in his Senate career that started in 1957. But he went on to set the current record for most uninterrupted votes, casting 10,252 between 1966 and 1988.

Since the modern Senate does not take frequent roll call votes, Ms. Collins would need to win her 2026 reelection campaign to have a shot at overtaking that record.

Still, she celebrated the milestone she hit on Wednesday as a reflection of her values and “the longstanding trust Mainers have placed in me.”

“The people of Maine deserve a senator who shows up to represent them every day,” she said in a statement. “Since my first vote in 1997, I’ve tried to bring the same dedication and reliability to my work in the Senate that Mainers bring to theirs.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, has the third-longest Senate voting streak with 8,927 consecutive votes cast from 1993 to 2020, when he missed one after testing positive for COVID-19.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.