Maine Democrats scored a string of major victories Tuesday night, electing Hannah Pingree governor, sending Troy Jackson to the U.S. Senate and returning U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree to Congress as voters across the country shifted control of Congress to Democrats.
“This election season, Maine People’s Alliance knocked on more than 150,000 doors, and we heard over and over what the November 3rd election results also reflect: Mainers want elected leaders who have their priorities straight,” said Amy Halsted, co-director of Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project). “That’s who we’ve voted for, along with voters around the country.”
In Maine’s U.S. Senate race, Jackson defeated Republican Sen. Susan Collins, ending her nearly 30-year tenure in Washington and helping Democrats secure control of the Senate. Jackson, a fifth-generation logger and former Maine Senate president, had a roughly 100-day campaign centered on lowering costs, expanding health care, strengthening workers’ rights and holding the Trump administration accountable.
“Working people did this,” Jackson told supporters in Portland. “You knocked the doors. You made the calls. You put your faith in a logger from Allagash because you believed Maine deserved a senator who knows what it’s like to work hard and still worry about the next bill.”
Jackson also made history as the first rank-and-file union member to come out of the labor movement and win election to the U.S. Senate, according to the Maine AFL-CIO.
Democrats also held the Blaine House, with former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree defeating Republican Bobby Charles and independent Rick Bennett. Pingree will succeed term-limited Gov. Janet Mills, marking the first time since 1958 that Maine voters elected a governor from the same party as the outgoing governor. Democrats also expanded their majorities in both chambers of the Maine Legislature.
“Tonight, Maine voted for that spirit,” Pingree told supporters, describing Mainers helping neighbors afford heat, defending immigrant community members and organizing to protect maternity wards and mobile home parks. “They voted for neighbors over noise. They voted for people who will do the work over people who want to divide us.”
Her mother, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, was also reelected Tuesday, defeating Republican Ron Russell to win a 10th term representing Maine’s 1st Congressional District.
Halsted said the results reflected voters’ frustration with rising costs and with political efforts to blame immigrants, transgender people and other marginalized communities for economic hardship.
“We want leaders who will fight for bold solutions to the most pressing issues of our time — not moderate half measures or racial scapegoating,” Halsted said. “Yesterday, Mainers and Americans proved they are willing to fight for these kinds of leaders, and they made history.”
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