The Supreme Court opening quickly becomes a central issue in Maine’s Senate race.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/us/politics/the-supreme-court-opening-quickly-becomes-a-central-issue-in-maines-senate-race.html

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An ad focusing on the Supreme Court vacancy after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hitting the airwaves in a critical Senate race, as Sara Gideon, the Democratic challenger to Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, has made Ms. Collins’s support of President Trump’s past nominees an issue in a new ad.

The ad, which features footage of Ms. Gideon speaking at a town-hall style event earlier this year, seeks to tie Ms. Collins to the national Republican Party — and particularly to Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Mr. Trump.

The ad says the Senate under Mr. McConnell is “virtually just rubber stamping almost every one” of Mr. Trump’s judicial picks. Ms. Collins, who has served in the Senate for more than two decades, has carved out an independent reputation that the ad seeks to undercut by portraying a vote for her as a vote to keep Mr. McConnell as majority leader.

Ms. Collins has reliably been at the center of the biggest judicial confirmation fights, most notably over Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, whom she ultimately voted to confirm. That vote helped spur an outpouring of donations — $4 million — to oppose Ms. Collins in 2020.

The ad does not mention Justice Ginsburg but it arrives as the new vacancy makes the high court an urgent issue. Ms. Collins has said that “the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the president who is elected on Nov. 3” but she has not specifically said how she would vote.

The Republican-controlled Senate under Mr. McConnell has prioritized confirming Mr. Trump’s judicial appointments, putting more than 200 on the bench, even adopting an informal slogan: Leave no vacancy behind.

The ad was posted online on Monday and will air on television in Maine starting on Tuesday.

This is the first ad to bring up judgeships since Justice Ginsburg’s passing but it likely will not be the last. The Gideon campaign clearly wants the Supreme Court to be front of mind for Maine voters, and for them to view Ms. Collins as a rank-and-file Republican rather than as an independent-minded incumbent.