Maine · U.S. Senate
ME Class 2 Senate seat
Coverage: this seat is included in the 2026 national listing.
Candidate source
Candidate source: Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions — 2026 General Candidate List - FINAL (November 3, 2026) (retrieved 2026-09-28). Absence of a candidate row is never evidence that a race has no candidates.
How the candidate list was checked
Rows read from the official source: 815 · published here: 6 · left out by rule: 809 · held back for review: 0. Official '2026 General Candidate List - FINAL' workbook, sheet 'November 3, 2026' (815 data rows, all offices). Federal rows: US Senate (statewide; Collins R, Jackson D) + CG-1 (Pingree D, Russell R) + CG-2 (Dunlap D, LePage R); districts 01/02. Senate contest is the Class II seat (Collins). Cross-checked against the SOS post-primary withdrawals/replacements PDF (9/22/2026): US Senate D nominee Graham C. Platner withdrew 7/10/2026 and was replaced by Troy D. Jackson (received 7/27/2026) - the FINAL xlsx already lists Jackson; no other federal withdrawals. Excluded rows are state/county offices (SR/SS/CC/CT/DA/JP/RP/GOV etc.). Senate rows carry senate_class=2 designation=regular: ME is in the official Senate Class II registry (the state's only scheduled 2026 Senate race), so the seat identity is derived from the registry, not defaulted.
Hot Races · statewide: Tightly polled: the current poll average is D+2.0, within 5 points. Neither is a forecast of this race. How the list works
Boundaries and sources
County–district classifications come from official block-assignment files, cross-checked against Census representations; render geometry is display-only.
Current officeholder
The current officeholder has not been confirmed in this edition. This does not establish that the seat is vacant.
Upcoming contests
2026-11-03 — general
Susan M. Collins · Republican (R)
Qualified for the general-election ballot
Troy D. Jackson · Democratic (D)
Qualified for the general-election ballot
Polling
D+2.0 — Troy Jackson (Democrat) against Susan Collins (Republican), averaging each pollster’s latest poll in the 30 days to October 7, 2026: 9 polls from 9 pollsters. Within 5 points: this race is on the Hot Races list as tightly polled.
A poll average describes what recent surveys found. Each poll has its own sampling error, larger for smaller samples. The average is not a forecast and not a probability. Matchup: certified candidate list. 32 polls in the source were left out: party-sponsored or internal polls, other matchups, duplicate versions of the same poll, or polls missing who was surveyed.
All 11 polls
| Pollster | Fieldwork | Sample | Troy Jackson | Susan Collins | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marist University | October 1, 2026 – October 4, 2026 | 1,505 registered voters | 51% | 47% | D+4.0 |
| Wedgewood Polls | September 27, 2026 – October 1, 2026 | 400 likely voters | 52% | 48% | D+4.0 |
| co/efficient | September 28, 2026 – September 30, 2026 | 1,240 likely voters | 46% | 48% | R+2.0 |
| The New York Times/Siena University for Portland Press Herald | September 15, 2026 – September 22, 2026 | 619 likely voters | 46% | 49% | R+3.0 |
| Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/Impact Research for AARP | September 20, 2026 – September 22, 2026 | 982 likely voters | 50% | 47% | D+3.0 |
| University of New Hampshire | September 17, 2026 – September 21, 2026 | 1,312 likely voters | 51% | 47% | D+4.0 |
| Quantus Insights | September 14, 2026 – September 15, 2026 | 621 likely voters | 46.4% | 47.1% | R+0.7 |
| University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Public Opinion/YouGov | August 28, 2026 – September 14, 2026 | 650 likely voters | 48% | 43% | D+5.0 |
| YouGov | September 2, 2026 – September 8, 2026 | 1,335 likely voters | 48% | 44% | D+4.0 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research for Fox News | August 6, 2026 – August 10, 2026 | 1,000 registered voters | 48% | 46% | D+2.0 |
| University of New Hampshire | July 15, 2026 – July 20, 2026 | 1,178 likely voters | 49% | 46% | D+3.0 |
PrivateVoteHub Polls from the VoteHub Polling API, retrieved October 7, 2026, used under CC BY 4.0. How polls are chosen
Economic profile of the state this seat represents
FederalCensus Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 (5-year) · survey period 2020-2024 · State of Maine
- Median household income$74,733± $795
- Poverty rate10.7%± 0.3 ppPopulation for whom poverty status is determined
- Rent burden (30%+ of income on gross rent)48.4%± 1.4 ppRenter-occupied households paying cash rent for which rent burden is computed
- Homeownership rate74.3%± 0.5 ppOccupied housing units
- Bachelor's degree or higher (age 25+)36.2%± 0.5 ppPopulation 25 years and over
Technical definitions (ACS tables)
- Rent burden (30%+ of income on gross rent)
- Renter-occupied households paying cash rent for which rent burden is computed: B25070_001 minus B25070_011 (Not computed)
This seat's geography is exactly coterminous with its state (or the District), so the state estimates from the same edition apply directly.
Structural five-year survey conditions — not current monthly conditions. Uncertainties are 90% margins of error: the published ACS margin for median income; Census-formula approximations (ACS handbook ch. 8) for the rates. “Margin unavailable” means the source supplies no usable margin — never zero.
Campaign finances
2025-2026 two-year period (FEC cycle 2026). Committee totals are the FEC’s own candidate-level aggregation — never summed from committee rows here. Independent spending is reported separately and is never part of a candidate’s receipts. An FEC registration is not proof of ballot qualification; candidacy status comes verbatim from the accepted release.
General election · November 3, 2026
“No matching FEC candidate record” means no filing was located — it is never evidence that a candidacy does not exist, and never a ballot-status claim. Candidates’ coverage dates can differ; each row carries its own.
Current officeholder — Congress.gov context
Susan M. Collins · Republican · Maine · served in 15 Congresses since 1997
Identity verified against the official Congress.gov member record (Bioguide C001035), recorded through 2026-10-04T02:54:23Z. Current officeholding is separate from 2026 candidacy status. Official member website.
Recent housing, employment, energy and infrastructure legislation
From the member's sponsored then cosponsored legislation lists (newest first, limit 30 each), the newest items whose CONFIRMED official legislative subjects intersect {Housing and Community Development, Labor and Employment, Energy, Transportation and Public Works, Water Resources Development} are selected, at most 3 sponsored and 2 cosponsored, 5 total. Items whose relevance cannot be confirmed via the official /subjects endpoint are omitted.
- S.5028-119 — Ratepayer Protection Actcosponsor latest action 2026-07-16: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. · subjects: Energy
- SRES.863-119 — A resolution expressing support for designation of the week of September 13 through 19, 2026, as "National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week".cosponsor latest action 2026-09-23: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S4958) · subjects: Labor and Employment
Sponsorship is a record of introduction or support — not passage, effectiveness, or economic impact.
Counties and this district
County boundaries for this seat are not published in this release. Explore individual counties on the county map.