Maine Senate election

What's happening

Democrat Troy Jackson defeated Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, ending her nearly 30-year Senate career, according to a CNN projection.3(source: Nov 3: Susan Collins Loses Maine Senate Seat to Democrat Troy Jackson) Collins called Jackson to concede shortly after midnight Wednesday, Jackson's campaign said.3(source: Nov 3: Susan Collins Loses Maine Senate Seat to Democrat Troy Jackson) Democrats captured control of the Senate and the House.3(source: Nov 3: Susan Collins Loses Maine Senate Seat to Democrat Troy Jackson)

How we got here

1. Jackson said he did not regret the remark, said he had no idea who the protester was and said Collins accused him of setting it up.1(source: Oct 18: Jackson does not regret telling Collins to 'shut up' at debate)
2. The Sunrise Movement posted on Instagram that the outburst came from one of its members, and the New York Times reported the protester was Henry Elgie, a 19-year-old Bowdoin College student.1(source: Oct 18: Jackson does not regret telling Collins to 'shut up' at debate)
3. Before Election Day, red paint was spread on the sidewalk and the phrase 'blood on her hands' was written outside Collins's Biddeford, Maine, office.2(source: Nov 3: Collins's Biddeford office vandalized with red paint before Election Day)
4. The Biddeford office was also vandalized in September, and Collins has said her Bangor home was egged that same month.2(source: Nov 3: Collins's Biddeford office vandalized with red paint before Election Day)
5. Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate and a fifth-generation logger, will be the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Maine since 1988, and Collins was first elected in 1996 and was the only Republican senator up for reelection in a state Trump lost in 2024.3(source: Nov 3: Susan Collins Loses Maine Senate Seat to Democrat Troy Jackson)