Good morning from Augusta. Sen. Susan Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has several Democrats at least putting their name out there as potential 2020 challengers to the Republican, whose seat has long been seen as untouchable.
We urge a healthy dose of skepticism before putting the Maine seat atop the list of national swing seats two years from now — as CNN did on Friday — but it’s true that Democrats now have a potentially powerful item to rally their voters against Collins.
The questions are whether that enthusiasm will linger and how Democrats — who have not won a statewide election since 2006 — will do in November after rough cycles in 2014 and 2016. It’s hard to know now how Democratic energy against Collins will be harnessed, though it would be silly for just about any Democrat to take their name out of consideration for the seat.
Democrats are finding fundraising momentum after Collins’ vote, but Republicans will also likely rally to the senator’s aid. Collins’ decision on Kavanaugh effectively sealed his confirmation and President Donald Trump singled the Maine senator out for praise in an interview with The Washington Post, saying she’s “so popular right now for what she did.”
To read the rest of “Democrats may need more than Kavanaugh vote backlash to defeat Susan Collins in 2020,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
