Chris Collins seems more worried about next month’s election than his pending insider-trading trial.
The Republican congressman from western New York is looking to skip an Oct. 11 pre-trial conference in Manhattan, just weeks before the Nov. 6 vote, as his legal troubles show a tightening race in the heavily Republican district that incorporates the Buffalo suburbs. The Crystal Ball political website has moved the contest from “Likely R” to “Leans R,” as has FiveThirtyEight.
