Polls Close in Maine as Democrats Make Final Push to Oust Sen. Susan Collins
The Intercept ·
The longtime Republican incumbent is at risk of losing her seat to Troy Jackson, a progressive Democrat who entered the race just over three months ago. The post Polls Close in Maine as Democrats Make Final Push to Oust Sen. Susan Collins appeared first on The Intercept .
The toughest reelection campaign of Republican Sen. Susan Collins’s career is over, as Mainers await results of whether their longtime senator effectively portrayed herself as an independent force in Washington or was weighed down by the baggage of a Republican Party entering the midterms at a severe disadvantage.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday night in a race that could see the 30-year incumbent lose her powerful Senate post to challenger Troy Jackson, a progressive who was virtually unknown on the national stage until his rushed elevation just over three months ago as the Democratic replacement candidate.
Tuesday night’s election results could change the control of the Senate chamber, with Maine as one of the seven critical states likely to determine whether Democrats can overcome the Republican majority in D.C. But Maine voters may have to wait far later to learn who won. The state’s ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank candidates by preference rather than being forced to select just one candidate, could delay results significantly.
“I think it’s possible results will take us past midnight,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told reporters in Lewiston on Tuesday.
Bellows said municipalities have two business days to submit their results to the state, although election officials have requested that towns share their vote counts Tuesday night.
Collins, who has represented the state since 1997, campaigned on her record of securing federal investments for state infrastructure, such as rural hospitals, and prided herself as being a moderate Republican who breaks ranks with President Donald Trump.
However, an analysis by Congressional Quarterly Roll Call found that her votes aligned with Trump 90 percent of the time in both the president’s first and second terms. Still, Collins’s split support among some Democratic voters was evident Tuesday in Lewiston, where several residents told The Intercept they were supporting the Republican senator despite filling their ballots out to Democrats otherwise.
“I am Susan Collins all the way,” said Anne Marie Hastings, a voter who also expressed strong support for Matt Dunlap, a progressive running against former Republican Gov. Paul LePage in a closely watched race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
“I’m a registered Democrat, but when it comes to things like this, I go with what I feel is right, not the party that they belong to,” Hastings said.
Another Lewiston voter, Ouellette Bertram, said he voted blue across the board, with the exception of “the Republican lady,” who he said he just plain likes.
“She’s been doing a good job, I think,” Bertram said.
Other Maine residents didn’t share the sentiment toward the Republican incumbent and the Republican Party’s decadelong legacy within the state.
One all-Democrat voter was Bryan Golay, who said he wished the Democratic Party would move to the left but voted against what he described as the GOP’s “enshittification” of America, much of which, he said, has come during Collins’s time in Washington.
“If you can’t get shit done in 30 years, why are we gonna give you another term?” Golay said.
Mags Krantz, a master’s student of social work who works with children with disabilities, said she voted for all Democrats, including Dunlap and Jackson, citing GOP-backed cuts to social services.
“They just cut funding for my job, and for my career,” Krantz told The Intercept outside a polling site in Lewiston on Tuesday. “I really voted for my future, but I also voted for every vulnerable child that I work with every single day that really wishes adults would vote for them over money.”
“I also voted for every vulnerable child that I work with every single day that really wishes adults would vote for them over money.”
Speaking to a crowd of supporters on the eve of the election, Jackson toasted the grassroots organizing that has powered his rapidly assembled campaign into the most serious challenge yet to Collins’s hold on her seat.
“This government is fundamentally broken, and it only works for the wealthiest people in this country — that’s what we’re up against right now,” Jackson said. “They are going to outspend the hell out of us. There’s no doubt about it. But they don’t have people like you in rooms like this across this state and across the country.”
Jackson, who spent nearly 20 years in the state legislature, ran on a platform focusing on lowering costs for working-class families, expanding healthcare access, and combating the influence of wealthy donors and corporate PACs in Washington. He entered the race somewhat hastily in late July, after former Democratic nominee Graham Platner withdrew from the Senate race following a rape allegation , which Platner denied.
Maine is one of the two critical swing states determining control of the Senate to use ranked-choice voting. The other is Alaska, where the last polls won’t close until 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The Collins–Jackson race has been one of the top targets for national attention this cycle — most of it on purpose. In October, The Intercept reported that Defending Main Street, a Republican-aligned super PAC associated with Collins spent between $20,000 and $25,000 attacking Jackson on topics such as cost-of-living and taxes. The ads mistakenly were targeted to audiences in Portland, Oregon, rather than the intended Portland, Maine.
This is a developing story that will be updated. Noah Hurowitz reported from Lewiston and Portland, Maine.
The post Polls Close in Maine as Democrats Make Final Push to Oust Sen. Susan Collins appeared first on The Intercept .