In the Maine Senate race, where Democrat Troy Jackson is trying to unseat three-year incumbent Susan Collins, millions of dollars are being spent to support candidates and attack opponents.
Ad spending related to 2026 Senate races has exceeded $1.6 billion, with Ohio leading the way at $407 million, Texas at $281 million and Maine at $195 million, according to media analytics firm AdImpact. An Axios analysis of the data shows that Maine’s Senate race is the most expensive in the country on a per-capita basis, with Republicans spending $96.99 per adult compared with $69.52 for Democrats.
With less than a month until Election Day, both candidates are working to secure concrete advantages over their opponents. Most surveys show Jackson with a slight lead, although Collins has overcome significant disadvantages in the polls in the past and easily won re-election.
newsweek Both campaigns have been contacted via email for comment and are awaiting responses.
Where does the money come from?
Republicans and Democrats spent enough to provide $166.51 per voting-age resident, according to AdImpact data adjusted for population size. The Pine Tree State is followed by Alaska at $134.65 and Iowa at $66.96 — two Senate races that are also in a close call.
The disparity is especially stark in the race between Collins and Jackson, even as Republicans have shown a greater willingness to spend and better fundraising abilities.
How does Susan Collins raise funds? what to know
Probably from new york times An investigation in July found that the five-term senator benefited significantly from her party’s main campaign arm, which at the time had spent $113 million on her re-election campaign. That number has grown significantly, with much of the support coming from Republican groups like the Senate Leadership Foundation, the party’s most prominent super PAC, and the Maine-focused Pine Results PAC.
The former, according to maine morning starBy June, he had spent $29 million on ads supporting Collins before running against Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race in July.
The Pine Tree Results PAC, which was formed specifically to support Collins’ reelection bid, has spent more than $12 million last year and in 2026, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The incumbent senator has also received support from organizations including Stronger Maine and Elon Musk’s American Political Action Committee. and an analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial data in June maine monitor Dozens of billionaires were found to have donated a total of $9.8 million to support Collins since the start of 2025.
This week, it was revealed that another super PAC, Defend Main Street, spent about $25,000 on ads targeting Jackson in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine. The group told newsweek Once the error was discovered, the ads were “immediately stopped and rectified” and the vendor behind the error issued a full refund to the group.
How is Troy Jackson funded? what to know
Jackson’s campaign has yet to file its quarterly financial disclosure report with the Federal Election Commission — a result of his late entry into the race — and has only days to give Meiners insight into his camp’s own fundraising practices before the vote. But he, like Collins, has benefited from millions of dollars in outside support, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Campaign finance tracking website VoteLog said the majority of Jackson’s outside support, about $19.8 million, came from WinSenate, a super PAC tied to the party’s Senate Majority PAC. In early September, the organization spent $2.1 million on an ad campaign touting his health care coverage record compared to Collins.
The newly formed Government That Works PAC also spent $1.6 million supporting Jackson and $350,959 opposing Collins’ re-election as of Aug. 11, FEC documents show. That includes more than $1 million in ad campaigns supporting Jackson.
Jackson is also the beneficiary of spending by Planned Parenthood, which has poured nearly $50 million into campaigns across the country.
Planned Parenthood has in the past praised Collins as one of “Republican lawmakers who have championed reproductive health care issues and fought to ensure women’s rights.” However, the group announced in August that its super PAC, Planned Parenthood Vote, would spend “more than $600,000” on an ad campaign highlighting “Maine voters’ disapproval of Sen. Susan Collins’ anti-abortion votes, including her vote to confirm the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.”
Will spending make a difference?
Political commentator and former Maine Republican state Sen. Phil Harriman said when asked why so much money was being spent on the race: “Polls show the race is competitive, majority control of the U.S. Senate is at stake and the Maine media market is a relatively low-cost market to air.”
However, Harriman told newsweek With less than a month to go until Election Day, “the barrage of ads is mind-numbing and voters are ignoring the ads. [and] Few people have yet to decide who to vote for. “
Republican political consultant Brendan Steinhauser said that in the context of the Texas Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico newsweek The high spending on Paxton could signal an acknowledgment of the race’s importance to both parties, as well as an underlying insecurity about his candidacy.
There appears to be a similar undercurrent in Maine, where Jackson leads in most polls despite entering the race late. Toby J. McGrath, a Maine political consultant and longtime Democratic strategist, said the party appears to be mounting its strongest challenge yet to Collins — the white whale of Washington, D.C., Democrats for 30 years — and her reputation on Republican Main Street.
McGrath told newsweek Democrats have been trying to “nationalize race, not localize it,” but Jackson seemed to succeed in doing both in his campaign, linking national issues like the Iran war and abortion to allegations of corrupt financial practices by Collins “at the expense of Meiners.”
Against this backdrop, McGrath said fundraising and spending “are not as important as the message”.
“For example? Troy’s expenses far exceed Susan’s, but things haven’t changed much,” he added.
Collins vs. Jackson: What the latest polls say
Opinion polls have yet to show either candidate having a decisive advantage. However, Jackson leads in most surveys, including a Washington Post/Schar Schools poll released Friday. That showed him four points ahead of Collins.
However, many surveys, including this one, are within their respective margins of error, and 10% of respondents to a CBS poll conducted from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1 said they might still change their minds before Election Day.
Jackson has also been grappling with glaring visibility issues. A Coefficients survey conducted Sept. 28-30 found that 16% of 1,240 likely voters had an unfavorable opinion of Jackson, compared with 9% of Collins. one New York Times/News Herald/The Siena Poll, conducted among 619 likely Maine voters from September 15 to 22, also found that 6% had “not heard of” Jackson, and another 4% had not heard of or had an opinion about him, compared with less than 0.5% and 1%, respectively, for Collins.
However, that’s before the candidates begin their debates, the third of which will take place on Tuesday night.
As of Tuesday morning, poll aggregator Decision Desk HQ had Jackson at 49.3 percent and Collins at 47.1 percent.
newsweek’s Reporters and editors used our artificial intelligence assistant Martyn to produce this story. Learn more about Martin here.
Please contact Newsweek editors about this story: Daniel Orton and James Debens