The expected change to Rep. Chris Collins’s not guilty plea in his insider trading case on Tuesday could make the 27th Congressional District race a wide open one in 2020.

Already, state Sens. Chris Jacobs and Robert Ortt had filed to run for the seat as has attorney Beth Parlato. David Bellavia, a Medal of Honor recipient and talk radio host, is also believed to be in the mix for the Republican nomination, but is yet to file paperwork.

Obviously, there’s believed to be an appetite among voters for someone not facing a white-collar criminal indictment to represent them in Congress.

Since before he won re-election in 2018, Collins had faced an insider trading charge after he sold 1.4 million shares of a company in which he was the investor. He is also accused of having tipped off his son early enough so that he too could sell off shares and avoid more than $500,000 in losses.

Collins still won re-election that November, four months after his indictment, after facing a closely fought challenge from Democratic candidate Nate McMurray. The race should not have been as close: After all, this was a district in western New York that President Donald Trump easily carried in 2016 and Collins has been a prominent and early endorser of the president.

But a lot of Republicans in upstate New York, particularly western New York, are Trump supporters, making such cache at this point of little notice. What matters perhaps more is whether the candidate is facing a white collar crime charge in an otherwise winnable congressional seat for Republicans.

Collins has been a headache for Republicans in western New York, hence the options primary voters are set to have with Jacobs and potentially Bellavia.

A guilty plea would end Collins’ time in Congress and end a political comeback for the former Erie County executive who had once been touted as a potential gubernatorial candidate.