USA09 September, 20263 min read
Susan Collins vs Troy Jackson and Abdul El-Sayed vs Mike Rogers Tighten Maine, Michigan Senate Races
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Maine's race shows Jackson ahead of Collins by a small margin in polls. Michigan contest remains close between El-Sayed and Rogers, with near-tie margins in polls.
8 outlets told this the same way.
Neck-and-neck Senate races
Republicans currently control 53 Senate seats as the 2026 primary season wraps up and key contests are set for the fall midterm elections, with Democrats needing to net four seats in November to secure a majority.
In Maine, the Senate race pits Susan Collins against Troy Jackson, with Collins holding the seat since 1997 and helming the powerful appropriations committee, while CNN polls found the contest “neck and neck” with no clear leader.
In Michigan, the open-seat Senate race matches Abdul El-Sayed against Mike Rogers, and CNN polling found likely voters split between El-Sayed and Rogers within the margin of error, with El-Sayed framed as one of the most progressive Democratic candidates of the cycle.
The CNN/SSRS polling described Maine voters as focusing more on negative views of incumbent Sen. Susan Collins and President Donald Trump than on impressions of late-breaking nominee Troy Jackson, while Michigan voters were more focused on candidates’ issue positions.
The Hill reported that the CNN/SSRS survey found Jackson and El-Sayed holding slight leads, with Jackson at 48% to Collins’s 45% and El-Sayed at 47% to Rogers’s 44%, both within the margin of error.
Voters weigh Trump, issues
CNN’s polling in Maine said the race centers more on likely voters’ “broadly negative views of incumbent Sen. Susan Collins and President Donald Trump” than on their impressions of Troy Jackson.
In Michigan, CNN said voters were more focused on candidates’ issue positions, with 50% of voters saying El-Sayed’s positions are too liberal compared with 42% who said Rogers is too conservative.
The Hill reported that Jackson’s lead over Collins was within the margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, and it said El-Sayed led Rogers by 3 points in the CNN poll, also within the margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
USA Today said in Michigan 47% of likely voters preferred El-Sayed to Rogers’s 44%, while in Maine 48% backed Jackson and 45% backed Collins, and it tied both states’ decisions to dissatisfaction with Trump and economic concerns.
USA Today also reported that 64% of Michiganders polled said the White House’s tariffs on Canada are a “bad thing,” while 65% disapproved of Trump and 34% approved.
Control of the chamber at stake
Flagpole said the Senate races and House campaigns will serve as a test of Republican policies after two years of unified control of Congress, and it noted that “just nine states hold the power to determine control of the chamber.” It added that a 50-50 split would keep Republicans in charge of the Senate with the vice president casting the tie-breaking vote, while it listed states including Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas as potentially winnable by either candidate. CBS News said Democrats would need to net four seats in November to retake the upper chamber, and it described Democrats trying to defend seats from possible GOP flips while Republicans fight to hold their majority.
The Hill tied the Maine and Michigan races to the fight for Senate control by saying Democrats need to pick up a net of four seats to retake the upper chamber, and it placed both contests as crucial to that math. With the polls showing no clear leader in both states, the USA Today polling framed the outcome as still in play less than two months before Election Day, with voters in Maine and Michigan dissatisfied with Trump and citing economic concerns as a top deciding factor.