GOP senator's 30-year reign ends as 5th-generation logger pulls off stunning upset

Fifth-generation logger Troy Jackson has pulled off a major upset in Maine, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and giving the Democratic Party a major boost in the battle for the U.S. Senate, the Fox News Decision Desk projects.

Jackson's victory will end Collins’ nearly three-decade career in the Senate.

"Maine, I owe you everything," Jackson wrote on X. "I’m ready to get to work for Mainers in the U.S. Senate, and I promise you this: I’ll never forget where I came from or who I’m fighting for."

The win gives Democrats a major pickup in one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 midterm elections. The Maine contest was viewed as a critical test of whether Democrats could defeat a Republican incumbent in a state that has shifted increasingly toward the party in recent presidential elections.

The result also could have major implications for control of the Senate.

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"It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate. I'm proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years," Collins wrote in conceding the race to her Democrat challenger.

"I called Troy Jackson tonight to congratulate him and to assure him that my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition."

Jackson previously served as president of the Maine Senate and represented parts of Aroostook County in the state Legislature. He campaigned as a working-class Democrat and labor advocate who would challenge both Washington’s political establishment and wealthy interests after he replaced disgraced Senate nominee Graham Platner on the ballot.

Platner dropped out of the race in July amid allegations of sexual assault, which prompted a vote within the Maine Democratic Party to install Jackson.

Jackson's campaign was nearly knocked off its tracks early on when it was revealed his longtime partner and mother of his two children is also his second cousin — the two share great-grandparents, according to reports. But that scandal wasn't enough to stop him from toppling the political institution that is Senator Collins. 

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Collins, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, was seeking a sixth term. She is Maine’s longest-serving member of Congress and chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, a position that gave her significant influence over federal spending and funding for Maine projects.

Collins, one of the more moderate Republicans in the Senate, built her latest reelection campaign around her reputation for independence and bipartisan dealmaking. She highlighted her work on infrastructure, veterans’ issues, rural communities and federal assistance for Maine residents while arguing that her seniority and committee position gave the state an advantage in Washington.

The race was shaped by Collins’ complicated relationship with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Democrats criticized Collins over her votes for Trump-backed policies and her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, arguing that her reputation as a moderate no longer matched her voting record.

Collins countered by pointing to the times she opposed Trump and Senate Republicans. She emphasized her willingness to break with her party and argued that Maine voters valued her independence more than party loyalty.

"Troy and Chuck Schumer and their allies run ads saying that I'm somehow a puppet of the president. Believe me, that would come as a huge surprise to President Trump," the senator said in an interview last month with Fox News Digital.

Former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin campaigned with Collins in the closing weeks of the race, helping her make the case that she was a bipartisan senator who could work with lawmakers from both parties.

Jackson’s victory marks a significant political shift in Maine and ends Collins’ run as one of the Republican Party’s most durable statewide candidates. Collins won reelection by nearly nine percentage points in 2020, but Democrats entered the 2026 contest with advantages driven by the state’s increasingly Democratic electorate and opposition to the Trump administration.

Jackson will enter the Senate as a former state legislative leader with strong ties to organized labor and rural Maine. His election is likely to make him a prominent voice on economic issues as Democrats seek to appeal to working-class voters across the country.