Amongst all of the victories for Senate Republicans, Ms. Collins’s stood out as essentially the most exceptional. Dealing with an onslaught of libe
Amongst all of the victories for Senate Republicans, Ms. Collins’s stood out as essentially the most exceptional. Dealing with an onslaught of liberal outrage over her 2018 vote to substantiate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Courtroom amid accusations of sexual assault, she trailed the Democrat, Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine Home of Representatives, within the race’s closing weeks. She additionally confronted a possible revolt by the state’s most conservative voters sad together with her frequent criticism of Mr. Trump.
In the long run, she proved she was one of many solely senators within the nation nonetheless capable of considerably outrun the highest of the ticket, profitable her fifth time period whilst Mr. Trump misplaced badly in Maine to Mr. Biden.
Nonetheless, already eying a 2022 Senate election on tougher turf for Republicans, Mr. McConnell prompt there have been causes for the get together to fret, as properly.
Talking to reporters after his personal commanding win in Kentucky, he mentioned Republicans had urgent work to do to win again the help of girls and college-educated voters, in addition to to bolster their fund-raising equipment, which has trailed Democrats’ juggernaut, ActBlue.
“I’m disturbed by the lack of help within the suburbs nationwide,” Mr. McConnell mentioned.
Democrats nonetheless remained hopeful concerning the races in Georgia. The Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, a Democrat, was headed for a January runoff towards Senator Kelly Loeffler, the appointed Republican, in a particular election to interchange Senator Johnny Isakson, who retired in late 2019 citing well being issues. Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old documentary filmmaker, was in a good race to unseat Mr. Perdue, which might additionally find yourself in a runoff if neither cleared the 50 p.c threshold required below Georgia legislation to win outright.
Each events had different excellent targets, however they have been thought of stretches. For Republicans, the best choice was Michigan, the place John James, a Black Iraq struggle veteran who ran for the Senate unsuccessfully in 2018, was attempting to unseat Senator Gary Peters. Democrats nonetheless believed that they had an outdoor shot of defeating Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska.
Catie Edmondson contributed reporting.