Democrat Troy Jackson has defeated Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine, ending her nearly three decades in the United States Senate and giving Democrats another Republican-held seat in their sweeping 2026 midterm election victory.
The Associated Press called the race for Jackson on Wednesday, 4 November. Its election results showed Jackson ahead with 53.7 per cent against Collins’s 46.3 per cent when an estimated 87 per cent of votes had been counted. Those figures were provisional election-night totals, not certified final results.
Collins conceded defeat after seeking a sixth term. Her loss removes one of the Senate’s longest-serving Republicans and a prominent figure who had built a reputation for securing federal funding for Maine while sometimes distancing herself from her party’s leadership.
Jackson, 58, is a former president of the Maine Senate and a former logger from the state’s rural north. His campaign emphasised living costs, housing, health care and workers’ rights, presenting his experience in working communities as a contrast with Collins’s long career in Washington.
The Democratic nominee entered the contest unusually late. Graham Platner, who had won the party’s primary, withdrew in July following allegations he denied. Maine Democrats selected Jackson at a replacement nominating convention on 25 July, leaving him a little over three months to organise a statewide general election campaign.
Collins, 73, had served in the Senate since 1997. She argued that her seniority, committee influence and ability to work across party lines benefited Maine. She chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, a position with significant influence over federal spending decisions.
Jackson’s supporters challenged that record, arguing that Collins had not sufficiently opposed President Donald Trump’s policies. Collins maintained that she exercised independent judgement and pointed to occasions when she differed with the administration. Voters also heard sharply contrasting arguments about abortion rights and the consequences of judicial appointments.
The election unfolded against concerns about household expenses, heating costs, health care and tariffs affecting Maine businesses. Jackson’s victory followed a campaign in which economic pressures and the national political climate became central issues.
Maine was particularly important to the national Senate contest because Collins held a Republican seat in a state that voted against Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Democrats needed to defend their own vulnerable seats while taking Republican-held seats to regain the majority.
Across the country, the Associated Press projected Democratic control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives after the 3 November vote. The Maine result was one of several Democratic Senate gains. A race call means the reporting organisation judges that the trailing candidate has no viable path to victory; it does not replace state certification.
The shift in congressional control will affect the remaining two years of Trump’s term. The Senate votes on presidential nominations and exercises oversight, while legislation ordinarily requires agreement between both chambers and the president. Democratic control could therefore change the administration’s prospects for legislation, appointments and investigations.
For African and Nigerian communities in the United States, the national balance of power is relevant to debates over immigration enforcement, federal spending, education and international policy. However, Jackson’s election does not itself establish a change in any of those policies, which would require separate legislative or executive action.
Jackson will join a Senate whose membership has been reshaped by the midterms. His immediate challenge will be to translate a campaign focused on affordability and working families into legislative priorities while representing a state with both rural communities and growing urban centres.
Photograph: Troy Jackson in the Maine Senate chamber in 2023. ArenLeBrun, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0.
