Rep. Chris Collins' insider trading scandal threatens to flip his deep-red district

Chris Collins.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

New York's solidly red 27th congressional district is swinging slightly more Democratic now that incumbent Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is facing criminal charges, CNBC reports.

Collins is remaining on the November ballot for re-election despite his Wednesday arrest. The lawmaker pleaded not guilty to charges of insider trading, wire fraud, and making false statements to the FBI following an investigation into his investments in and private disclosures about an Australian biotech company. Federal Election Commission records additionally show that Collins used campaign funds to pay for his legal representation in the yearlong investigation. A spokesman said that Collins will pay for his own legal bills going forward.

After the news of the arrest, NY-27 went from a "solid" Republican rating to "likely" on the Cook Political Report. The district was previously all but guaranteed to vote Republican — Collins won his bid for re-election handily in 2016, and the district voted for President Trump by nearly 25 percentage points. Democratic candidate Nate McMurray quickly began raising more money following the news of Collins' arrest, calling him a "corrupt Trump Republican." Despite the district's conservative voter base, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee now says "this seat is firmly in play for Democrats." Read more at CNBC.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Summer Meza

Summer is news editor at TheWeek.com, and has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Santa Clara University, she now lives in New York with two cats.