Blue Wave Topples Collins – Maine Stunned

Voting booths with American flag graphics — Photo: vesperstock / Shutterstock

Maine voters fired six-term Republican Senator Susan Collins, handing her Senate seat to Democrat Troy Jackson in one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 midterms.

Story Snapshot

Democrat Troy Jackson defeated six-term Senator Susan Collins in Maine’s 2026 Senate race.
CBS, NBC, CNN, and ABC all projected Jackson as the winner before the count finished.
Jackson led by roughly eight percentage points once most ballots were counted.
The loss ends Collins’s bid for a sixth term in the Senate.
Collins called Jackson to concede the race after the networks made their call.

Six-Term Senator Loses Her Seat

Susan Collins built her career as one of the last moderate Republicans willing to work across the aisle in Washington. That reputation was not enough to save her this time. Democrat Troy Jackson beat her outright, ending a Senate career that stretched back nearly 30 years and closing the book on her hope for a sixth term in office.

Vote counts from four major networks told the same story. CBS News called the race for Jackson. NBC’s decision desk showed Jackson with 340,972 votes, or 53.8%, against Collins’s 292,570 votes, or 46.1%, with most ballots counted. CNN reported Jackson ahead 53.9% to 46.1% and marked Maine a “flipped seat”. ABC News posted nearly identical numbers.

Networks Call Race for Jackson Before Full Count

Each network made its projection while a slice of the vote was still outstanding. NBC’s figures reflected 85.7% of the expected vote counted, CNN cited roughly 84%, and ABC News reported 86%. None of those numbers are the state’s final, certified tally, but they were consistent enough across four separate newsrooms that all of them called the race the same way, on the same night.

Maine’s Secretary of State also released unofficial results covering ballots cast by military members and Americans living overseas. In that category alone, Jackson collected 4,350 votes to Collins’s 473, with 53 ballots left blank. That lopsided gap among service members and expatriates matched the broader trend showing Jackson building a durable lead across the state.

What Happens Next in Maine’s Election Process

Maine law lays out a clear path from election night to a final, official winner. County clerks must file attested copies of their returns with the Secretary of State within two business days of the election. The Secretary of State then has 20 days to certify the statewide results and issue an election certificate to the winner, which the Governor signs.

Maine does not run automatic recounts. A trailing candidate who wants one must formally request it and pay a deposit, which gets refunded only if the recount flips the outcome. Nothing in the available record indicates Collins has requested a recount. By several accounts, she instead placed a call to Jackson to concede once the networks made their projections.

National Stakes of the Flip

Collins’s defeat matters well beyond Maine. Her seat was one of the last Republican-held Senate seats in a state that votes reliably Democratic in presidential races, and losing it strips Senate Republicans of a reliable swing vote they often needed to pass or block legislation. Coverage framed the result as part of a broader Democratic push to retake Congress during President Trump’s second term.

Democrats have won control of the U.S. Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, successfully flipping the upper chamber.

Race Outcomes & Seat Flips
major party gains and notable results in key Senate contests include:
– Maine: Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent Republican… pic.twitter.com/bSo0HuuzhS

— WorldGeopolitics25 (@WGeopolitics25) November 4, 2026

Senate incumbents from the party out of the White House usually have a strong track record of holding their seats in midterm years, which made Collins’s loss notable to political watchers on both sides. Her defeat leaves Republicans with one fewer experienced voice in the chamber and hands Democrats a seat they will now have to defend themselves in six years, long after President Trump has left office.