Photo: United States Congress, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Official Senate portrait of Susan Collins, file photo.
Democrat Troy Jackson has defeated Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine, ending a Senate career that stretched for nearly three decades and delivering Democrats another major pickup in the 2026 midterm elections. The Associated Press called the race for Jackson at 1:02 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 4, and Collins conceded before the call, according to USA TODAY and Reuters.
At the time of the call, Jackson held a lead of about seven points with about three-quarters of precincts reporting, and later returns put him at about 53 percent to Collins's 46 percent, according to Decision Desk HQ. As with all election-night calls, the result remains subject to final tabulation and certification by Maine election officials.
The end of a 30-year run
Collins, 73, was first elected in 1996 and had represented Maine since 1997. She had been seeking a sixth term, which would have made her the longest-serving senator in Maine history, and she leaves Congress as the longest-serving female Republican senator in history. She had also chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee since January 2025.
Collins had repeatedly survived as a moderate Republican in a state that has not backed her party for president since 1988, and she was the only Republican senator seeking re-election this year in a state that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. This year, Reuters reported, economic headwinds helped Jackson overcome his late entry into the race.
An unusual path to the nomination
Jackson, 58, is a former Maine Senate president and a fifth-generation logger from the remote town of Allagash. He initially campaigned for governor, but finished third in the crowded Democratic primary in June. Democrats selected him as their Senate nominee in July to replace Graham Platner, a former Marine and oysterman who dropped out after facing a sexual assault allegation, which he denied.
Jackson's campaign raised $26.9 million, slightly more than the $25.2 million raised by Collins through mid-October, Al Jazeera reported. A final New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll showed Jackson leading 51 percent to 45 percent, while a University of New Hampshire survey put him ahead 54 percent to 45 percent.
What decided Maine
Reuters reported that the Iran war pushed up fuel and home heating oil prices — an especially salient issue in a largely rural state known for harsh winters — while President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada weighed on tourism, lobstering, logging and other pillars of Maine's economy. Jackson emphasized his blue-collar roots and campaigned on affordability, a theme that dominated Democratic campaigns across the country on Tuesday night.
Jackson is the first Democrat to win a Senate election in Maine since George Mitchell in 1988. His victory was one of the flips that carried Democrats past the 51-seat threshold for Senate control, a result already covered on this blog in its Senate sweep post, which had listed Maine among the races still unresolved when control was projected.
What comes next
Jackson is scheduled to take office on January 3, 2027, when the new Congress convenes. His win removes one of the Senate's most prominent moderates and its Appropriations chair, and it gives Democrats a senator from a state where the party had not won a Senate race in 38 years. For Collins, the concession closes a career that began when Bill Clinton was president and spanned six presidential administrations.
Sources: Associated Press election results and call, November 4, 2026; Reuters, "Democrat Troy Jackson ousts Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine," November 4, 2026; Al Jazeera, November 4, 2026; USA TODAY via Seacoastonline, November 4, 2026. Results are projections and remain subject to certification.