538 bravely tells the truth Atlas ignores: Susan Collins is a moderate

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I mean, by definition any party can be divided into a "moderate" wing and an "extreme" wing. Collins is obviously one of the more moderate Senators. But that doesn't really mean anything significant.

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Determining if someone is moderate based on their votes is tricky. imo Collins is a 90s republican. The most moderate republican in my eyes is Kasich.

Charlie Baker? Phil Scott? Larry Hogan?

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I get why Democrats don't like Susan Collins, but the outrage is exaggerated. She's like the only Republican Senator from a blue state, right? (Okay, if we count Gardner, there's 2). And it's not as if Maine is solidly Democratic anyway. However, there's five Democratic Senators in states Trump won by at least 15 points and they're all way to the left of their states (with the exception of Manchin). I've never seen Democrats call them "fake moderates". This is a Republican problem, not really a Democratic one.

If you want Republican policies, you should vote for a Republican candidate for Congress, no matter how hard the Democratic candidate tries to be a " nice guy moderate FF who will clean up the mess in Washington ". Same is true for other side as well, of course. Atlas generally understands this (okay, most of Atlas does), but the typical American "swing" voter does not. I'll never understand how a Republican can vote for Heidi Heitkamp for Senate or how a Democrat can vote for Susan Collins. This is just dumb.

Colorado is a Purple State not a Blue or a Atlas Red State.

It was more Democratic than Maine in 2016, and it's certainly trending leftward.