Susan Collins poised to win 5th term after opening wide lead on Sara Gideon

Today is Wednesday. Temperatures will be in the high 50s and low 60s throughout the state. Maine, and the nation, are talking about the results of yesterday’s election. For full town-by-town results statewide, check out our full Maine 2020 elections results here.

In the Maine U.S. Senate race, Susan Collins is poised to win a fifth term after opening a wide lead on Sara Gideon.

Sen. Susan Collins, left, hands Piper Woollard, right, a T-shirt supporting her re-election as she tours a Penobscot-McCrum potato processing facility on Election Day. Credit: David Marino Jr. / The Star-Herald

The incumbent Republican’s lead came after she trailed Gideon in every independent public poll in 2020, although several showed a tight race in recent weeks with undecided voters for the incumbent senator who predicted as late as Tuesday that the race would be close.

The likely victory comes as Republican candidates across the country outperformed expectations in Senate races, giving the party a chance of holding onto control of the upper chamber. For Collins, it follows the most bitter and nationalized reelection campaign of her career that found her as an underdog for the first time in her Senate tenure.

Joe Biden wins 3 of 4 electors in Maine, while Trump leads in 2nd District.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks to members of the media outside a voter service center Monday in Chester, Pennsylvania. Credit: Andrew Harnik / AP

Former Vice President Joe Biden won Maine in Tuesday’s election, taking three of its four Electoral College votes behind a solid lead in the 1st Congressional District while President Donald Trump led the swing 2nd District and remains competitive nationally.

Maine is one of two states to award one Electoral College vote to the winner in each congressional district and gives another two to the statewide winner. The single elector from the swing 2nd District, which Trump won by 10 percentage points in 2016, could come into play as the election remains elusive.

Jared Golden is likely to be reelected, while Chellie Pingree cruised to victory.

Unofficial results show U.S. Rep. Jared Golden performing well along the coast and in mill towns such as Jay and Rumford, areas key to his 2018 victory over Republican Bruce Poliquin.

Pingree, who is serving her sixth term in the House and has never faced an especially competitive reelection race, was a clear favorite all along over Republican Jay Allen.

A shakeup in the state legislature.

Minority Republicans gained at least eight seats in the Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday, but Democrats unseated the top Senate Republican in a mixed election that will only slightly change the political landscape in the second half of Gov. Janet Mills’ first term.