Return Of The Blue Wave, Con't

Perpetually DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT DONALD TRUMP Maine Sen. Susan Collins should now be deeply concerned about keeping her job, as Cook Political Report has shifted her 2020 reelection race to true toss-up status.

Collins won her last reelection bid in 2014 by more than 30 points but is expected to face a much tighter race this time around, with the leader of the state's House of Representatives, Sara Gideon (D), announcing she would challenge the four-term senator.

A press release Friday from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) claimed that the incumbent senator's support had cratered in the state following her confirmation vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year, a controversial vote that Democrats argue pushed her outside the label of "moderate."

"This is the latest in a string of bad news for the vulnerable incumbent, who has continued to lose support among Mainers and seen her net approval drop by a 'stunning' amount since President Trump took office," the DSCC said in a press release, quoting a Morning Consult analysis.

The senator defended her vote to confirm Kavanaugh last month in an interview with The New York Times, telling the newspaper she did not regret her vote "in the least."

Gideon, meanwhile, hammered Collins for the vote in her campaign announcement earlier this year.

“At one point, maybe Sen. Collins was different, but she doesn’t seem that way anymore: taking over a million dollars from drug companies and the insurance industry and voting to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court,” Gideon said.

No current Republican senator has paid more in the polls than Collins.  Like the article says, she won in 2014 by 30 points, running against her was unthinkably quixotic even a few years ago.

Now she's in serious trouble, along with Republican incumbents Cory Gardner of Colorado and Martha McSally of Arizona.

If Democratic Sen. Doug Jones can keep his seat in Alabama, Democrats can pick up at least three seats.  They'll need to pick up more to send Mitch McConnell to the showers, but two open GOP seats, one in Tennessee and one in Kansas are in play, and support for North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis isn't very deep.

It'll take some lifting, but then again, I figure Trump wrecking the economy will have an effect.