Mara Liasson

But still, Trump is so ubiquitous.

He is the person who's dominated American politics.

He's everywhere, and it's going to be almost impossible for her to separate herself from him.

She has an almost mythical ability to hang on because she was considered vulnerable the last time and she didn't lose.

So Susan Collins has a very, very strong connection to Maine voters.

It might help her again, but it's getting more and more difficult for Republicans to win in blue states just as it's become very difficult for Democrats to win in red states.

Yeah.

I think they have a fighting chance.

I think the problem for Democrats this year is that the Senate math is just so bad for them.

To flip the chamber, they would have to net four seats.

They only have two clear pickup opportunities.

One of them is in Maine.

a blue state.

And one of them is in North Carolina, where they got the recruit they wanted, former Governor Cooper, who's very popular.

But they got the recruits they wanted in some other places, like Sherrod Brown in Ohio or Mary Peltola in Alaska.

But it's really hard to do this.

And to me, the main race is a microcosm of the Democrats' bigger, and I would call them existential challenges.

They have to learn how to win red states and rural areas because in 2030, after the next census, a whole bunch of electoral votes from the blue wall states in the northern Midwest are going to move south because they're going to follow the population.

That's what the census does and that's what reapportionment does.

And they're going to go to states like Texas and Florida and Georgia.