Republican advocates are concerned the party could cost them 'ticket splitters' with Supreme Court vote

Susan Collins.
(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) are both in jeopardy of losing their re-election bids, and polls show President Trump is also struggling in Maine and Colorado, so it seems like the GOP's platform isn't registering in the two states. Still, there's hope among Republicans that voters will split their tickets between the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and down-ballot Republicans. But, Peter Nicholas writes for The Atlantic, that's fading as the GOP pushes to confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee as swiftly as possible.

In Nicholas' view, Collins, Gardner, and others would likely get a boost if Trump put off the nomination, allowing the winner of the presidential contest to make the selection. At the very least, he writes, he could announce the nominee during the lame-duck period, meaning senators wouldn't have to cast polarizing votes before their elections. (Collins said she won't vote for the nominee because it's an election year, while Gardner said he's prepared to approve Trump's unnamed nominee.)

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.