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How RBG's Death Could Impact Key Senate Races

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (Al Drago/Pool via AP)
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (Al Drago/Pool via AP)

Power is up for grabs in the Senate this November and a Supreme Court vacancy is only escalating the stakes of key races. We talk about how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death could have an impact on races in Maine, North Carolina, Colorado and Arizona.

Guests

Anthony Brooks, On Point 2020 correspondent. Senior political reporter for WBUR. (@anthonygbrooks)

Steve Mistler, politics and government reporter for Maine Public Radio. (@SteveMistler)

Dan Shea, chair of the department of government at Colby College.

Seung Min Kim, White House reporter for the Washington Post, covering Capitol Hill. (@seungminkim)

From The Reading List

Maine Public Radio: “Collins Under Microscope As Republicans Race To Replace Justice Ginsburg” — “Friday’s passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an icon for gender equality supporters, is quickly rippling through a hotly contested Maine U.S. Senate race already shaped by judicial appointments.”

Wall Street Journal: “Another Supreme Court Vacancy Puts Re-Election Squeeze on Sen. Susan Collins” — “The U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made an already-difficult re-election bid for Republican Sen. Susan Collins even more perilous.”

New York Times: “Supreme Court Fight Could Scramble Intense Battle for Senate” — “Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican in a tough fight to win the seat to which she was appointed in 2019, raced after Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday to declare that she would back President Trump in filling the Supreme Court seat just weeks before Americans went to the polls.”

The Guardian: “How Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death could affect Senate races – and Trump v Biden” — “On the question of supreme court nominees, the Republican senator Susan Collins has repeatedly threaded the same political needle. It is one with a shrinking eye.”

Vox: “The ways Democrats could retake the Senate majority, explained” — “A once-narrow Senate map has dramatically expanded for Democrats this year, and Republicans have few options to expand their majority.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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