Troy Jackson Flips Maine Senate Seat, Defeating Incumbent Susan Collins

Newsweek · Andrew Stanton, Alex Backus · 2026-11-04 05:25 UTC

The Maine Senate race was seen as one of the closest of the 2026 midterm elections.

Democrat Troy Jackson unseated Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine's U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, riding a blue wave to defeat a longtime incumbent in what was expected to be among the most competitive races of the midterm elections.

Maine was viewed as one of the Democrats’ top pickup opportunities, as it’s a state that President Donald Trump lost by about 7 percentage points in 2024. The race was seen as competitive, despite the state’s Democratic lean and difficult national environment for the GOP, due to Collins’ bipartisan image and personal popularity that helped propel her to previous victories in the state.

CNN called the race for Jackson just after 12:15 a.m. ET as he led Collins by about 5 percent in the critical race, with 68 percent of the vote in.

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