MAINE, USA — UPDATE 1:15 p.m.
Speaking to supporters in Bangor, Susan Collins said her opponent Sara Gideon called her and conceded the Senate race with 95% of results reporting, with Collins leading 51% to 42%.
Gideon is expected to speak at 1:30 p.m.
UPDATE 1 p.m.
Susan Collins is set to deliver remarks from campaign headquarters in Bangor. Stay tuned here for updates.
UPDATE 11 a.m.
With 92% of the votes counted, Susan Collins leads with 51% of the vote, according to the AP. Sara Gideon trails at 42%.
Collins says she will deliver remarks at 1 p.m. from the Team Collins headquarters at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor.
NEWS CENTER Maine will stream Collins' remarks live on our website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and mobile app.
1 A.M.: Sara Gideon for Maine campaign manager Amy Mesner released the following statement:
“An unprecedented number of Mainers cast their ballots in this year’s U.S. Senate race, and from the Mainers who cast their ballots to the volunteers at the polls, we are so grateful to everyone who participated in this crucial election. It’s clear this race will not be called tonight and we are prepared to see it through to the finish. Over the coming days, we will make sure that every Mainer has their voice heard in this election.”
Senator Susan Collins spoke to her supporters an hour earlier, thanking all the cities and towns that helped her throughout the campaign.
"We've never given up. We've never backed down because that is what we Mainers do. We get the job done, no matter how hard it may be."
Collins told her supporters her campaign feels very good about where the numbers were around midnight.
ORIGINAL
Maine voters will elect a U.S. Senator on November 3, 2020 in the race between incumbent Senator Susan Collins and Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, along with Independents Lisa Savage and Max Linn.
The race for Maine's U.S. Senate is a tight one. Monday, Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Sara Gideon hit the campaign trail with just hours left in the campaign.
The Collins - Gideon race has been one of the most expensive senatorial races the country has ever seen. Some estimate that well over $100 million will be spent by the time Election day arrives.
Senator Susan Collins talks to supporters in Bangor
Who is Susan Collins?
Susan Collins, who turns 68 years old on December 7, has represented Maine as its United States Senator since 1997.
Collins was born and raised in Caribou, Maine, and is the daughter of Donald Collins and Patricia McGuigan. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in government in 1975 from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.
After graduation, Collins had a string of high profile political positions in Maine and Washington. Some of the highlights were:
- Legislative assistant to William Cohen
- Director of Governmental Oversight Management Subcommittee on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security
- Commissioner of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation under Maine Governor Jock McKernan
- New England Regional Director of the Small Business Administration under George H.W. Bush
After becoming Maine's first female major-party gubernatorial candidate in 1994 (ultimately losing to Governor Angus King), Collins ran for and won Maine's U.S. Senate seat in 1996.
Collins lives in Bangor with her husband, Thomas Daffron.
Who is Sara Gideon?
Sara Gideon was born on December 4, 1971, and raised in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Gideon has three older siblings.
Gideon graduated from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C., with a degree in international affairs. During her time in Washington, she served as an intern for U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell.
Gideon moved to Freeport, Maine in 2004, with her husband, Ben Gideon.
Gideon's political career began on the Freeport town council in 2009. From there, she was elected to the Maine House in both 2012, 2014 and 2016. In the latter election, she was picked to be the assistant majority leader of the Maine House of Representatives.
In 2016 and 2018, Gideon was elected Speaker of the House. Gideon made a name for herself by tackling some tough subjects like Medicaid expansion and the availability of Narcan to Maine people. Gideon had some success battling with then-Republican Governor Paul LePage.
Gideon still lives in Freeport with her husband and their three children.
Who is Lisa Savage?
Lisa Savage, 64, was born in Bangor but grew up in California. She returned to Maine to attend Bowdoin College, where she graduated with a history degree in May of 1977.
She returned to Maine for good a few years later to run her father's bar, Bloomfields, in Skowhegan.
Savage returned to school at the University of Southern Maine and earned a masters degree in teaching, where she has worked for the last 25 years. While Savage hasn't held an elected political position, she was elected to serve as vice president and chief negotiator of RSU 18's teachers' union for six years.
While Savage didn't hold office, she has been politically active over the years.
Savage has been a big proponent of the Green New Deal, saying, "Maine can lead the way in providing Green New Deal infrastructure for the Northeast and beyond, building green solutions to the climate crisis - like commuter trains, solar panels, and offshore wind towers - rather than wasting billions on unnecessary, polluting warships that make the climate crisis worse.
This conversion would create thousands of more jobs in Maine, jobs with good wages and benefits that won't just disappear when the Pentagon decides its latest destroyer is obsolete."
Savage also founded the Maine Natural Guard, a group that works to protect Maine's environment.
Savage lives in Solon with her husband, Mark Roman. They have five grown children and four grandchildren.
Who is Max Linn?
Max Linn was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, in September of 1959. As he grew up, he set his sights on the financial world. He graduated from two colleges with degrees in financial planning. Over the last 35 years, Linn created, ran, and sold one of the country's largest independent financial planning firms.
Linn dabbled in politics in Florida, where he ran for Congress as a Democrat and for Governor in the Reform Party.
Linn retired to Bar Harbor about 12 years ago.
Mainers first heard of Linn in 2018 when he tried to run for U.S. Senate as a Republican, but the Secretary of State ruled a number of Linn’s petition signatures were invalid, and he failed to qualify for the primary ballot.
This year, he’s running as an independent and survived another petition signature challenge to qualify for the ballot.
