A new poll shows Republican Sen. Susan Collins holding a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in Maine’s closely watched Senate race, one of the contests both parties see as pivotal to control of the chamber next year.
The New York Times/Siena survey, conducted Sept. 15-22 among 619 likely voters, found Collins at 49% and Jackson at 46%, with 5% undecided. The three-point gap falls within the poll’s margin of error. The poll was done in collaboration with the Portland Press Herald and sponsored in part by the Maine Trust for Local News.
Collins, seeking a sixth term, is the only Republican senator running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in 2024. This marks one of the first polls to show her ahead of Jackson since he became the Democratic nominee in late July, replacing Graham Platner.
Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer, won June’s Democratic primary in a landslide but dropped out a month later after a report surfaced containing a rape allegation from a woman he had previously dated. Platner denied the allegation but ended his campaign. Jackson, a former Maine Senate president who had campaigned alongside Platner during his own unsuccessful run for governor, won a special nominating convention to take up the party’s Senate bid.
Corruption Claims Fly on Both Sides
The poll’s release coincided with a dispute over a ProPublica report alleging the FBI had sought to open a pay-to-play investigation involving Collins and others. That investigation was later dropped, and no one on Collins’ staff was charged. Collins called the report
