It is hard for me to understand how Joe Biden could win Maine by 53% to 44%, while in the

[still_one]

same election Collins won against Sara Gideon by about the same amount.

On the issues Sara Gideon is almost 100% aligned with Biden.

I wonder why there is such a disparity, and what the people of Maine were thinking to vote for Biden overwhelmingly, but not for Gideon

[Turin_C3PO]

1. Some people

always vote for long time incumbent Senators. It doesn’t make sense but it happens a lot.

[still_one]

12. I understand the incumbent advantage, however, the last four years Collins has pretty much rubber

stamped everything trump has done, and if nothing else, wasn't this election a referendum on trump?

[Turin_C3PO]

14. Yeah, you'd think.

I’m not sure what the thinking was in the Biden/Collins voters’ minds.

[Botany]

2. simple answer

BTW how did McConnell with a 13% approval rating win in KY and how did
Trump pick up 11 million votes from 2016?

[TwilightZone]

8. Nope.

They don't use machines in Maine.

If we brush off races like this with "oh, it's just the machines", we will continue to lose them.

Besides, if they were going to change votes for Collins, why not Trump? It's the reverse of Trump's argument -- Dems hacked the race at the top, but let the Republicans win down-ticket races. Sure, that makes a lot of sense.

"BTW how did McConnell with a 13% approval rating win in KY"

Because replacing one of the most powerful people in government with someone who would start at the bottom would be stupid, even if everyone hates him, from a political standpoint. He's also a Republican. In many states, that's all that's required.

South Dakota made that mistake and they've been paying for it for 15 years. They replaced Daschle, one of the five most powerful people in Congress and someone who did more for the state than anyone, with John Thune, who hasn't done anything since.

"how did Trump pick up 11 million votes from 2016"

More people voted and he got a similar percentage. It's not complicated.

[jpak]

9. We don't use touchscreen machines in Maine

All paper scanned ballots.

[Turin_C3PO]

10. There's no vote flipping going on.

It’s a conspiracy theory. Why would they switch votes to Collins but not Trump? As for McConnell, though they may hate him, he has two big advantages. 1) He’s an incumbent that brings pork to his state and 2) he’s not a Democrat, which is all it takes sometimes to win in deep red states.

[still_one]

15. Comparing Kentucky with Maine is NOT comparable

[apnu]

27. McConnell does not have a 13% approval rating in his home state.

He needs only win the popular vote in KY. As an incumbent he has powerful advantages. Kentucky, as a whole, is deep red, so that's another powerful advantage he has. And finally, there is the single issue voter problem. So long as McConnell stays on the positive side of the handful of single issues for KY Republicans (God, Guns, Gays), they will elect him even after his own death.

[Botany]

31. I agree KY is very very very red but still it saddens me that its people will vote agains their ...

... own best interests time after time. The 13% approval rating I heard last fall was
on how did the people think of the job he was doing in the Senate.

[StarfishSaver]

36. They aren't necessarily voting against their best interests

They have lots of interests beyond basic economic ones. Voting for these people advances many of them.

[hlthe2b]

3. Power of incumbency and the brainwashing that "checks" on the President's party needed in Congress

[JI7]

4. Susan Collins is a longtime Senator from Maine. It's the same way Manchin wins West Virginia

Collins was hurt with the Kavanaugh thing but then she started campainging on how she opposed ACB and that along with some some other issue helped her to win.

This is a race we could have won and should have focused on more compared to South Carolina and Kentucky which don't currently have demographics favorable to Democrats.

[Buckeyeblue]

11. I agree with you about the focus of resources

We were never going to win KY. SC was a long shot. If we had focused on Maine, it might have made the difference. It's hard to say.

[judesedit]

5. The down ballot results should be investigated. That's for sure.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. Between 90-98% of incumbents are re-elected.

Money

By far the most widely recognized and probably the most significant advantage enjoyed by sitting members of Congress is the large amounts of campaign contributions they are able to raise, especially in comparison to those who run against them. The table below summarizes the average campaign resources available to various groups of candidates in House and Senate races in 1998:
U.S. House U.S. Senate
Incumbents $772,016 $5,578,470
Challengers $207,107 $2,442,660
Open-Seat Candidates $607,703 $2,336,939
SOURCE: Common Cause. “House & Senate Races: Incumbents, Challengers, Open Seats.”

[still_one]

16. Thank goodness that wasn't the case with trump

[Ferrets are Cool]

21. But, it saddens me to think that an R had to be this bat-shit crazy NOT to be re-elected

In 2004, I was SURE that America was smart enough to NOT re-elect a war criminal AND the man who had single-handedly allowed 9-11, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He was put back into office with even more of a mandate than in 2000.

The American voting population can be extremely confusing. (being kind)

[still_one]

22. Well said, and you are not alone that thinking

[Ferrets are Cool]

23. ...

[jpak]

7. Susan Collins ran an effective negative campaign against Gideon

And lots homie "I am a real Mainer" ads.

Gideon did not respond effectively.

PS I donated and voted for Gideon.

[still_one]

18. ok. Gideon was a state representative, so she should not have been unknown to the people of Maine

[jpak]

32. I saw many many more negative ads against Gideon

And many many more feel good Collins ads than I saw for Gideon.

I really thought- based on polling - that Gideon would win.

I have a gut feeling that the old."I am a real born and raised Mainer (Collins) and you are not (Gideon)" argument swayed a lot voters in the privacy of voting.

[still_one]

35. A lot of us assumed Gideon would win, but I am not from Maine, and a lot of those who

assumed Gideon would win I suspect also were not from Maine

[wishstar]

13. Collins got a boost after she voted against Amy Barrett forSC on grounds it wasn't fair to Democrats

She trailed in polls but she won support of those on fence by seeming to be bipartisan saying she couldn't vote to confirm Barrett so close to election as that would be unfair when Repubs had given that as reason to block Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland.

[Bluepinky]

30. Mitch gave her his permission for her to vote that way.

He worked it out ahead of time to allow her to appear bipartisan and independent, while still getting enough votes from other Republicans for Amy Barrett’s confirmation.

Susan Collins is a Republican stooge.

[sop]

17. Name recognition...many will simply vote for the candidate whose name they know.

I recall one local election in Miami where the less popular Democratic challenger won because he had the same last name as the favored longtime Republican incumbent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. For one thing, See-Saw isn't Indian-Armenian. For another, Republicans who voted against Trump but

not party down ballot. And as others mentioned, her seniority gives a small state a seat at the table. I voted that way once myself for Olympia Snowe many moons ago. And lastly, Maine is big on checks and balances.

[still_one]

24. Your last point is worth considering, however, I think the example be more comparable if instead of

using Kanye as the example, to instead use a George Wallace type

Of course both examples of Kanye or a george wallace are extreme and unlikely for a Democratic nominee in today's world.

However, Maine in presidential elections has been consistently Democratic, and as you point out also consistently for incumbents within their state

[apnu]

25. Maine is super weird.

Much of New England has fierce independent streaks. Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire -- all have their own unique politics that doesn't fit well in the two party system we have. Collins and Sanders are, in many ways sides of the same coin. Maine is weirdly conservative, but not in the lockstep, beholden to the good-old-boy South, or South wannabes in the West, way. They have their own brand of it and demand their representatives to buck the system.

[Demsrule86]

26. People vote for different reasons and not always issues. It is hard to knock off a sitting incumbent

I tnink ranked choice played a roll too.

[still_one]

28. I wasn't aware that Maine had ranked choice voting

[Dem4Life1102]

29. Never Trump republicans

They voted against Trump but went home on down ballot races.