The first Fox News Power Rankings of the 2026 midterm elections and a new poll both 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, in what's expected to be a premiere Senate battleground.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.
The midterm ballot box battle is one of roughly a dozen Senate contests that will determine if the Democrats win back the chamber or if Republicans hold onto their slim majority.Meanwhile, 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.WHO'S UP AND WHO'S DOWN: CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS ON THE MIDTERM ELECTIONSFormer Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2026 Maine gubernatorial nomination, is on a glide path to replace ex-candidate Graham Platner as the Democratic Party's Senate nominee.(Sophie Park / Bloomberg via Getty Images)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.
And most of Jackson's top rivals for the nomination backed him after dropping out of the race on Sunday.While the delegates on Jackson's slate are not required to support him at the convention in Bangor, Maine, he is now considered all but certain to secure the nomination.A fifth-generation logger and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, Jackson came in third place last month in Maine's Democratic gubernatorial primary.Platner dropped out earlier thi...