[smt88]

Both parties have internal diversity.

Dems span all the way from Sinema to AOC. GOP goes from Collins to Taylor Greene.

People can express their individuality in the primary process fairly well, especially for national elections with lots of candidates.

But at the end of the day, every election is between the #1 and #2 candidates, and those candidates are going to be a hard compromise for lots of people.

[dabinat]

Sure, Collins is vastly different from MTG in style/demeanor, but are their voting records really that different?

That’s the mistake people keep making about Collins: she says things that sound reasonable and sensible, but at the end of the day, she votes with the rest of the party almost all the time.

Lisa Murkowski has been more independent and she may well lose her seat because of it.

[shkkmo]

> Lisa Murkowski has been more independent and she may well lose her seat because of it.

Luckily, Alaska passed a ranked choice voting / open primary proposition in the last election cycle so it won't be possible to primary her out of the election (as was done in the past, forcing her to run and win a write-in campaign.) Still, We will have to see how much the administration drags it's heels on implementation...

Ironically, Lisa has been one of the better state representatives from Alaska (many others have been very corrupt). This is despite her father literally giving her his senate seat when he was elected governor.

[jacobolus]

It is naïve in the extreme to pretend that Susan Collins is any kind of moderate. She never takes a stand for her supposed principles and never casts a vote that makes a difference. The GOP allows her to occasionally vote with the Dems on symbolic gestures, or in cases where her vote would not be decisive anyway, so she can better present a façade of comity, moderation, and political independence to her constituents despite years of shattered promises. In practice, she takes marching orders from Mitch McConnell and always falls into line when it matters.

The only single time within my memory that she was part of a 1-vote margin against the GOP was when John McCain faked out McConnell and at the last minute rejected the ACA repeal in 2017. Collins had been told she was allowed to vote against because her vote would not matter, she did so, and McCain’s No vote came afterward.

[smt88]

I didn't say she's a moderate. I just said she's a far cry from Taylor Greene.

[splithalf]

We should ask Duck Cheney’s daughter about the diversity of her party, she seems like a poster child for that.