Democrat Troy Jackson has defeated longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins in Maine, unseating the famous moderate senator in a race marked by controversy.
Jackson entered the race after replacing Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee who withdrew following a series of scandals.
First elected in 1996, Collins was the only Republican senator representing a state that has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections since 1992.
She has cultivated a reputation as a moderate and sought to distance herself from President Donald Trump during her campaign. Jackson, a former logger, campaigned on workers’ rights and accused Collins of yielding to pressure from the president.
Throughout the campaign, Jackson pitched the race as a battle between the working class and the political establishment and addressing supporters on Tuesday night in Portland he said: “We did it! Working people did it!”
“I couldn’t accept that working people could give everything they had and still have so little to say over their own lives,” Jackson said
“So when the companies kept pushing us around, we organized, we stood together, and we tried to make them listen. And tonight, tonight, you’ve given me the chance to take that fight to the United States Senate.”
By contrast there was a sombre atmosphere at the Collins’ watch party in Bangor, Maine.
The defeated senator did not come out to address supporters, but issued a statement saying she’d called Jackson to congratulate him and promise a smooth transition.
