Politics
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A 35-year-old Lewiston native with national Democratic connections announced Wednesday his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2026, an early move in a field that will likely grow for the closely watched race to take on the fifth-term Republican.
Jordan Wood’s entry into a Senate race that both national parties will devote plenty of resources to comes as a few other names have only arisen as potential Democratic contenders, including Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, and former state Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth. A key figure who has also not yet ruled out seeking the Democratic nomination to face Collins is Gov. Janet Mills.
He is the only candidate with political connections to jump into the race against Collins so far. A recent poll put Collins as the second-least popular senator nationally, and she has voted against some of Trump’s nominees and policies. But Collins, who first won election in 1996, has the firm support of national Republicans hoping to protect her seat in Democratic-led Maine.
Wood, the son of a pastor and a teacher, was born in Lewiston before his father’s ministry work took the family to Gardiner. Wood graduated from St. Dominic Academy in Auburn, attending Calvin College in Michigan and moving to Washington, D.C., for a 10-year stint with political groups before he and his husband, political operative Jake Lipsett, moved back in 2021 to Maine, where they live with their 3-month-old daughter Ella in the Lincoln County town of Bristol.
Although not widely known in Maine, Wood pointed to his experience “fighting corruption and a broken system in Washington” as helping him stand out, saying in an interview ahead of Wednesday that Collins, 72, has “never led on reforms and changing our political system.”
He said the birth of his daughter in January as President Donald Trump returned to office and “went after marginalized groups” motivated him to run. Wood said Collins has not done enough to check Trump, noting the top Senate appropriator voted in March for a spending deal that cut earmarks to Maine. U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Democrats also voted for it to avoid a government shutdown.
Wood also dinged Collins for her repeated use of the word “concerned” to respond to Trump administration actions Collins has sought to reverse while not saying whether she blames Trump for targeting Maine and seeking to pull federal funding from the state since the president clashed with Mills in February over Maine’s transgender athlete policies.
“I think we need to have a real opposition majority in Congress that’s going to stand up to what I believe is an authoritarian president who’s stomping on our rights,” Wood said.
Wood worked from 2015 to 2020 for End Citizens United, a political action committee that seeks to counteract the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision ending limits on corporate campaign spending. He then worked as chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-California, from 2020 to 2021, mentioning he was barricaded with the representative in her office as a pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
He went on to help launch and serve from 2022 to last month as executive director of democracyFIRST, a political group that he said stands up to “election deniers” at all levels of government while having close to 700 candidates from both parties join its pledge on promoting democratic ideals and accepting election results.
Collins campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick said neither the senator nor her staff in Maine knows Wood but “understand that he was a key advisor to a left-wing congresswoman from California and has worked for some far-left progressive groups.”
“We look forward to debating our very different visions for Maine if he is the nominee next year,” Roderick said.
Wood said he will hold an in-person town hall every quarter, alluding to Collins not doing that, and publicize his schedule every month. He mentioned housing and child care but also said his campaign is not about any single issue while offering subtle critiques of past challengers whom Collins beat handily.
“A lot of Mainers understand that they’re not going to agree on every single thing with their elected officials,” Wood said. “But they do expect them to prioritize their interests and to fix the system if it’s broken and not working for them anymore.”