The first Fox News Power Rankings of the 2026 midterm elections indicate an extremely close contest between longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Troy Jackson, the candidate set to replace ex-nominee Graham Platner as the Democratic challenger.
Maine Senate Battle
The Fox News Power Rankings, which gauge the competitiveness of elections using data, reporting and analysis, ranks the showdown in Maine as a toss-up. A Pine Tree Poll conducted over the past seven days by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center indicates Jackson with a slight three-point edge over Collins among likely general election voters in Maine.
Collins, as she runs for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, is facing a rough political climate for Republicans, amid GOP President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings, persistent inflation and what polls indicate is an unpopular war with Iran.
Meanwhile, Jackson, a former Maine Senate president, is on a glide path to replace Platner at Saturday’s Maine Democratic Party nominating convention in Bangor, after winning the vast majority of the 500 voting delegates chosen this past weekend by Democrats in the state’s 16 counties.
Platner dropped out earlier this month, amid calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to immediately exit the race following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside.
Jackson, who had campaigned alongside Platner during the primary, quickly made the case that he was the best equipped candidate to grab the mantle of the progressive and populist movement that had backed Platner.
Jackson, similar to Platner, is running on a platform aimed at working-class voters. He backs raising taxes on billionaires, the universal healthcare system known as “Medicare-for-all,” abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats are increasingly divided on support for America’s longtime Middle East ally.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
