Overview
- Voters will cast primary ballots on Tuesday, June 9, in contests for governor, the U.S. Senate and both U.S. House seats that will set nominees for November.
- The U.S. Senate race pits six-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has raised roughly $10.5 million, against a Democratic field led by Graham Platner, who has raised about $16.2 million despite personal controversies and high-profile endorsements.
- Former Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Democratic Senate campaign on April 30 because of funding shortfalls but did not fully remove her name from some ballots, a development that reshaped the primary dynamics this spring.
- The gubernatorial field is large and competitive with Troy Jackson and Nirav Shah essentially tied in recent polling, and multiple congressional matchups — including an open 2nd District where Paul LePage is the lone Republican — could hinge on ranked-choice transfers.
- Because Maine uses ranked-choice voting and allows wide use of absentee ballots, final results in multi-candidate contests may be delayed and decided by voters’ secondary preferences, a factor that has attracted national money and attention given the Senate race’s Cook Report toss-up rating.