U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday joined Democrat Troy Jackson on the campaign trail, aiming to boost his voter support in the critical Maine U.S. Senate race.
Maine's Senate battle is among a handful of toss-ups that could determine the balance of power in Congress’ upper chamber after this year’s midterm elections. Jackson, former president of the Maine Senate, is challenging longtime incumbent Republican Susan Collins in a state that President Donald Trump lost in all three of his elections.
Despite the Pine Tree State's Democratic tilt, polls point to a close race. Collins has won by large margins in the past due to her personal popularity and bipartisan image, and both parties anticipate a close race on November 3.
Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and Jackson appeared together at the Students vs. Billionaires Town Hall, an event hosted in Portland by the progressive organization More Perfect University.
During the event, which lasted about an hour, the two progressives took questions from college students based in Maine on a variety of issues including healthcare, transgender rights and foreign policy.
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Ocasio-Cortez's appearance comes as Jackson is working to not only win over independent voters but also motivate his own party’s progressive base. He has appeared in recent weeks with other prominent progressives like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
The New York congresswoman, who is popular among younger progressives whom Jackson’s campaign is working to motivate, said Collins “paved the way” for healthcare cuts by helping advance the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a signature piece of legislation backed by President Donald Trump.
Collins has touted her vote against the bill, but Democrats have criticized her for voting to advance it in procedural votes, which they said ultimately helped its passage.
“In the votes that allowed this trillion dollars in healthcare cuts to go to the floor, Susan Collins voted yes,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Senator Collins voted to allow this to proceed at every opportunity, and it is only when she thinks that people aren’t looking and aren’t paying attention that she’ll vote no, thinking you don’t know what she’s up to. That she waited until it went past the post in order to say no, when at every other point she said yes.”
Ocasio-Cortez also touted Jackson as the candidate who “believes in our reproductive freedom.”
“He has stood up for our equal pay. He has stood up for our rights,” she said. “The most important thing for us as women to do is to elect this man to the United States Senate."
Jackson, meanwhile, said Ocasio-Cortez is “exactly what I want in my government.”
“Somebody who is not afraid to stand up, fight for what she believes in. Not afraid to stand up to the billionaires,” he said. “It really is an honor to have her here. That’s the type of passion that I definitely want to bring to the U.S. Senate.”
Collins Campaign Criticized Jackson Over AOC Appearance
The Collins campaign previously criticized Jackson for campaigning with Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives.
“Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represent the far left of the national Democratic Party. That they are all campaigning in Maine for Troy Jackson tells voters exactly how he would govern,” Blake Kernen, a Collins campaign spokesperson, previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek reached out to Collins' campaign for further comment.
Why the Maine Senate Race Is Important in Midterms
Maine’s race remains one of the most crucial of the midterms. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, so Democrats must flip four seats to win control of the chamber, as Vice President JD Vance serves as the tiebreaking vote.
Maine is also seen as a top pickup opportunity for Democrats. Historically, the party in the White House loses seats in the midterms when the president is unpopular, so Trump’s declining national approval rating threatens to weaken Republicans in key races. Democrats hope that the more challenging national environment, as well as the state’s partisan lean, will leave Collins in a more vulnerable position this year.
But Collins has managed to keep the race competitive, and she has outperformed expectations in the past. Polls underestimated Collins in her 2020 reelection bid. She trailed Democrat Sara Gideon in public surveys but won with more than 50 percent of the vote.
If Democrats fail to flip the seat, their path to a Senate majority would narrow, and they would have to compensate for the loss in a more conservative state.
What Latest Polls Show About the Maine Senate Race
A Suffolk University poll gave Jackson a 2-point lead, 49 percent to 47 percent. It surveyed 500 Maine voters from October 8 to October 11 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Collins also trailed by 2 points in an InsiderAdvantage survey of 1,200 likely voters conducted on October 13 and October 14. Jackson’s support stood at 49 percent to 47 percent for Collins. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.
Jackson was up 4 points among 800 likely voters in a poll from The Washington Post and George Mason University, conducted from September 30 to October 5. Fifty percent said they planned to vote for Jackson, compared with 46 percent for Collins. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Maine Senate Race: Latest Developments
Collins and Jackson are on the campaign trail this week as they make their final pitches to voters.
Collins campaigned this week with former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat-turned-independent. They hit the stump together in Lewiston, a more politically moderate part of the state compared to Portland, a progressive stronghold.
The two candidates faced off last week in their final two debates.
In one viral moment, the last debate was briefly interrupted by a data center protester as Collins was speaking, about which she said: “This is obviously one of Troy’s supporters.” Jackson responded: “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.”
Jackson’s remark drew some criticism from Collins. Jackson declined to apologize during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
“I’ve had four debates with Senator Collins," he said. "I’ve shook her hand afterwards every time. What I’m not going to be is talked down to by Senator Collins, I’m not going to be accused of things like that. I’m fighting for Mainers and I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me, so I’m not going to apologize for that.”
Maine Voting: What to Know
In-person absentee voting began on October 5 and will continue until October 29. More than 70,000 Mainers had requested an absentee ballot as of October 2. Polling locations are open from 6 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., depending on a town’s population. Election Day is November 3.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Edward T. Cummins