Is it just me, or anyone else thinking Collins with her Kavanaugh and impeachment votes may have done Dems a favor in the long run? If she voted against him, the dude still would have gotten confirmed or just replaced with another Federalist Society judge few months later. Voting for impeachment wouldn't have made a difference anyway. And even if senate floor voted for witnesses, the GOP senators were never going to convict Trump regardless, no matter how strong the evidence was. But with her votes, Collins lost a lot of her "moderate/independent" credentials and crossover support, opening up a great pickup opportunity for Dems. Especially now as we're looking to a very close race for senate control, where one state could really make the difference.
Imagine if Collins voted differently: There would (likely) have been one pickup opportunity less now. Even if Collins is going to vote for almost all of Biden's cabinet and judicial nominees on the floor, it's useless as long as McConnell is not allowing the floor votes to take place at all. Let alone Collins wouldn't vote for more than half of Biden's policy agenda anyway.
She will have done Democrats a favor if she loses. However, she could have done them more of a favor by retiring like Jeff Flake and a lot of House Republicans that faced potentially competitive races in 2018.
