Replacing Senate Candidates Is a Risky Business

Ed Kilgore: “The lesson of the very limited history of Senate replacement candidates is that they aren’t especially handicapped if they are running in the right place at the right time. Despite Susan Collins’s strength, Maine hasn’t gone Republican in a presidential race since 1988, and the Platner substitute will have more than three months — a bit longer than replacement candidate Kamala Harris had two years ago — to establish a clear identity and make sure Platner’s excited backers are in the fold.”

“If Collins ultimately wins, Democrats will have nobody to blame but themselves. They had one shot and now another.”

New York Times: Maine Democrats hope to replace Platner as Senate nominee. Has that ever worked?