Susan Collins was as good as gone. The Maine Republican seeking a fifth Senate term in what is still mostly a blue state appeared likely to be a casualty of President Trump. Democrats had her in their sights and believed they could finally discredit her reputation as a centrist in order to get nearly every Joe Biden voter in the state to cast a ballot against her.

Collins as a Trumper was a hard sell. But she had voted for the president’s acquittal in the Senate trial following his impeachment. She voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which was both controversial at the time — the Kavanaugh hearings hinged on the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who alleged sexual assault — and threatened to undercut her record of support for Roe v. Wade. Indeed, Planned Parenthood endorsed against Collins, and an online crowdfunding campaign immediately sprang up to raise $3 million for her eventual, then-undetermined opponent.