Maine Senate Race 2026: Collins vs. Jackson and the Ranked-Choice Count

Status as of 2:40 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 31. Candidate names, dates and voting rules come from the Maine Secretary of State’s office. No votes have been counted.

The Maine Senate race 2026 pits a five-term Republican incumbent against a Democratic nominee who joined the race in late July, and it will be run with ranked-choice voting. This guide lists the candidates from the state’s official records, explains the ranked-choice count and sets out how to vote and when results become official.

What happened

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, is seeking a sixth term, according to Roll Call and CBS News. Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, is a former president of the Maine Senate, Roll Call and the Portland Regional Chamber reported. The winner will serve a six-year term.

Who is on the ballot

The Secretary of State’s 2026 general election candidate list shows two names printed on the ballot for U.S. Senate, listed here in alphabetical order:

• Susan M. Collins, Republican
• Troy D. Jackson, Democratic

Jackson was not the original Democratic nominee. The Secretary of State’s list of candidate withdrawals and replacement nominations shows that primary winner Graham C. Platner withdrew on July 10, 2026, and that the party’s replacement nomination of Jackson, of Allagash, was received on July 27, 2026. July 27 at 5 p.m. was the final deadline for such replacements, the office said. Platner’s name is not on the ballot.

The declared write-in candidates

The Secretary of State’s declared write-in candidate list, updated Oct. 15, names six declared write-in candidates for U.S. Senate: Brent Andrews (Unaffiliated), Sigrid Ann Olson (Democratic), Gina Oswald (Independent), Joseph Steinberger (Faith in Humanity), Michael Turcotte (Un-enrolled) and Ashley J. Webb (Democratic). The office says a write-in vote for anyone not on that list is recorded as a blank, and the rest of the ballot still counts.

Latest development

Because of the declared write-in candidates, the Secretary of State’s office says the Senate race will be conducted by ranked-choice voting. The same applies to the 2nd Congressional District race, which also has a declared write-in candidate. Ranked-choice voting is used in Maine general elections only for federal offices, not for governor or the Legislature, the office says.

The office has posted ranked-choice sample ballots for the U.S. Senate and 2nd District contests on its ranked-choice voting page, last updated Oct. 6.

How ranked-choice voting works in this race

Voters can rank a first, second and third choice, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Ranking more than one candidate is optional.

• Round 0: On election night, only first choices are counted, the Bangor Daily News reported. The Secretary of State calls this unofficial Election Day tally Round 0.
• Majority wins: A candidate who receives more than 50% of first-choice votes wins outright.
• Elimination rounds: If no one reaches a majority, ballots are tabulated in Augusta in rounds. The lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated each round, and those ballots move to each voter’s next choice still in the race, until one candidate has a majority.
• Exhausted ballots: A ballot is exhausted when it has no remaining ranked candidates in the count. Two blank rankings in a row also exhaust a ballot, the office says.

If a ranked-choice count is needed, it would be Maine’s first statewide ranked-choice count in a general election, according to the Bangor Daily News. For a step-by-step walkthrough with examples, read our explainer on how ranked-choice voting works.

What the polls show

Polls are snapshots, not forecasts, and LiveNewsWorld reports only surveys with published methods. A Fox News Poll of Maine, conducted Oct. 16 to 20, 2026, by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, found Jackson at 49% and Collins at 49% among likely voters, with 1% choosing someone else and 1% unsure. The poll interviewed 1,689 registered voters drawn from the state voter file by live telephone interview or online through a text link. Its likely voter subsample of 1,514 has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It did not measure second choices, and other surveys may differ.

Why it matters

Collins is the only Senate Republican who represents a state Kamala Harris carried in 2024, Roll Call reported, making the seat one of the contests that will shape party control of the U.S. Senate. LiveNewsWorld does not publish predictions or win probabilities for this race.

What happens next

How to vote on Election Day

• Hours: Polls close statewide at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Opening times vary by community, with some polling places opening as early as 6 a.m., NEWS CENTER Maine reported. Voters in line at closing time can still vote.
• Registration: The deadline to register online or by mail was Oct. 13, but Maine voters can still register in person through the close of polls on Election Day, the Secretary of State’s office says. Voters registering in person need proof of identity and residency.
• Absentee ballots: In-person absentee voting ran from Oct. 4 to Oct. 29, and Oct. 29 was also the last day to request a no-excuse absentee ballot. Absentee ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, regardless of postmark. Many towns have drop boxes.

The Secretary of State’s Sept. 4 general election update lists these dates and rules in full.

When results become official

Towns may begin processing absentee ballots up to seven days before Election Day, but counting does not start until polls close at 8 p.m., the Secretary of State’s office says. Municipalities report unofficial results on election night, and clerks then have two days to submit their results to the Secretary of State. If no Senate candidate has a majority of first choices, the ranked-choice tabulation follows in Augusta. The state’s deadline to certify results is 20 days after the election.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the Bangor Daily News that, if a ranked-choice count is needed, “we want voters to be prepared for the results to come the week following the election.” In a ranked-choice race, only a candidate among the top three at the end of the next-to-last round may request a recount, according to her office.

LiveNewsWorld will report Maine returns as towns post them and will name the outlet behind any race call. No winner will be reported before one is declared by a named source.

Related live coverage

Follow every contested seat on our US Senate elections 2026 results page, find every guide in the US Midterm Elections 2026 hub, and get the latest Washington news on US Politics Live.

Sources

• Maine Secretary of State: Candidate withdrawals and replacement candidate nominations after the June 9, 2026 primary (as of Sept. 22, 2026), and July 27, 2026 news release
• Maine Secretary of State: Declared write-in candidates for the Nov. 3, 2026 general election (updated Oct. 15, 2026)
• Maine Secretary of State: General election update, Sept. 4, 2026, and ranked-choice voting page (updated Oct. 6, 2026)
• Fox News Poll, Maine topline, conducted Oct. 16 to 20, 2026, released Oct. 22, 2026
• Bangor Daily News (Oct. 26, 2026), Roll Call (July 25, 2026), CBS News, NEWS CENTER Maine and Portland Regional Chamber reporting