Who Ran The Worst Senate Campaign in 2020?

[MT Treasurer]

Only focusing on competitive races, because the others don’t really matter even if the candidate in question was 'weak':

Sara Gideon -- It takes a special level of incompetence for a Democrat to lose a Senate race in a blue state these days and/or to underperform the top of the ticket by double digits given the enormous partisanship of blue state voters, but Gideon somehow (although unsurprisingly, given that she campaigned like she was up against a R incumbent in NJ and had little understanding of the state she moved to) scored on both counts. Collins is the only Republican representing a blue state in the Senate in the year 2021, and that’s a pretty damning indictment of people like Tom Allen and Sara Gideon. While Collins was never going to be as easy to beat as many had hoped, she was not invincible either.

Martha McSally -- This race was more winnable than her last one (not because Sinema was the Democratic candidate, but because it a massive Democratic wave year) and she had no business underperforming Trump in a year/state like this. A combination of poor messaging, an amateurish brand, and poor optics cost the GOP the 2020 seat and consequently the Senate. You could argue that it’s less about her than about Ducey's appointment, though.

John James -- Mostly due to a ton of missed opportunities (not going nuclear on the incumbent like Scott did in FL-SEN 2018, focusing too much on identity and vague platitudes, a lethargic performance on the campaign trail, etc.) and the incompetence of the NRSC with its half-hearted involvement three weeks before the election when Peters had already defined James and himself and it was too late. You could make a case that the race wasn’t winnable because Biden carried the state somewhat comfortably, but I’m not entirely sure I buy this. In any case, you weren’t going to beat someone like Peters by harping on about socialism or the Green New Deal.