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In the hubbub of the latest controversies surrounding Graham Platner, the candidate who had to have his Nazi tattoo covered up, you may have missed it.

Down in Texas, a longtime incumbent U.S. senator, John Cornyn, lost to an equally controversial candidate in Ken Paxton. Paxton, the Texas attorney general who was impeached for misconduct by the Texas House and acquitted by the Texas Senate, won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate on May 26.

Much of the commentary surrounding the Texas Senate race has been focused on the idea that this political own-goal by the GOP might put the state in play in November. Democrats there have a controversial, young candidate named James Talarico who’s energetic and has been working hard. He would’ve stood no chance against Cornyn, in all likelihood. Given the controversy surrounding Paxton, he might now have a prayer.

Some have lamented that this is a bad thing for the Republican Party nationally since the GOP will now have to spend money in Texas, of all places, and that may be true.

It may also be a good thing for Sen. Susan Collins.

Back in 2020, when Sara Gideon ran against Collins, Gideon was widely viewed as a rising star by Democrats within the state and nationally. She raised a ton of money herself (much of which she, embarrassingly, didn’t end up spending), and also received a lot of money from outside groups.

Indeed, the polls in early summer showed her leading Collins by roughly the same margin that Platner was, until recently — and Gideon didn’t have any skeletons in her closet. So, they absolutely poured money into the race, which left Democrats with less money to spend in places like North Carolina, where they lost by a smaller margin than in Maine, astonishingly.

Thanks to Texas, Democrats may now face the opposite scenario this year: Having to spend more money elsewhere that leaves them with fewer resources in Maine. Texas is a large, expensive state in which to run, and Democrats there have, by all apparent measures, a much more viable candidate there than they do here in Maine.

They may also have opportunities for pickups in Florida, another large, expensive state, where a special election is being held to replace Marco Rubio, in Ohio, where a special election is being held to replace JD Vance, and in North Carolina. Florida is probably safe, but Democrats also have opportunities in Alaska and Iowa. Meanwhile, they face an expensive open seat to defend in Michigan.

National commentators thought the Texas primary result was bad for the GOP nationally. At the end of the day, Republicans have several advantages working in their favor: Texas is still Texas, and they’re way ahead of Democrats in fundraising nationally thus far. Republicans can afford to spend and compete in Texas — even if they’d rather not have to — while for Democrats it will be more of a reach.

Hopefully, all of this illustrates why the national picture is so complicated. There are several expensive pickup opportunities for both parties in big states all over the country. They can’t focus on all of them — nobody can afford that — but they can’t just ignore them, either. 

The reason that all of this spells good news for Sen. Collins is that, when push comes to shove, Democrats may be able to cut their losses here in Maine at some point. While it’s a cheap state in which to run a statewide race, they’re also facing a midterm election cycle that is unexpectedly target-rich.

A few months ago, it was conventional wisdom that Democrats absolutely had to win Maine in order to win a majority in the United States Senate. Now, all of a sudden, with Texas in play — and Alaska on the radar — that’s not so certain. If Democrats want to pivot away from play here in Vacationland, they still have viable alternate paths to a majority in the Senate.

With all of that being said, Maine may not ultimately wind up being the center of the political universe this year that we all presumed it would be in January. Other developments, here and elsewhere, have expanded the playing field for Democrats significantly, and the overall environment appears to continue to be in their favor.

If they eventually make a strategic decision to abandon Maine, they may yet be able to afford to do so. We have to wait to see what happens this Tuesday — and the rest of the year.