Compare Candidates

Susan Collins says the U.S. healthcare system needs substantial reform and supports expanding access—particularly in rural communities—while addressing mental-health and substance-use treatment, caregiver support, provider shortages, and prescription-drug costs.

Jackson's campaign says he would fight to pass Medicare for All and lower prescription-drug costs. A campaign-linked statement further specifies support for allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for everyone and capping out-of-pocket prescription costs.

Susan Collins supports expanding workforce training, strengthening small businesses, providing tax relief for families and job creators, reducing bureaucratic red tape, and promoting fair trade. She has also supported reducing the tax burden on small businesses to encourage job creation and economic growth.

Jackson says working-class people are being harmed by a “rigged system” and lists taxing billionaires and requiring corporations to pay their fair share, along with delivering tax cuts for the working class, among his Senate priorities.

Senator Collins says she supports protecting Maine’s environment, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and creating clean-energy jobs while preserving American manufacturing and keeping energy affordable. Her record also reflects a mixed approach: she voted against the 2025 tax-and-energy bill that would have ended or narrowed several clean-energy tax credits, while reporting has documented criticism of her climate action and her opposition to the nonbinding Green New Deal resolution.

Jackson has publicly supported expanding renewable energy, particularly northern Maine wind power and transmission, and has said as a senator he could seek federal funding to advance those projects. He also supports woody biomass/biofuel development and has advocated environmental protections including limits on aerial glyphosate spraying; his approach emphasizes pairing clean-energy development with affordability and working-class input.

Senator Susan Collins says she supports codifying the abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade and affirmed by Planned Parenthood v. Casey. She co-sponsored the Reproductive Choice Act, which would prohibit undue burdens on abortion before fetal viability while allowing health-and-safety regulations and limited post-viability restrictions.

Jackson's campaign says he supports passing a federal right to abortion. His campaign's Senate priorities page lists that position as a priority.

Senator Collins says people who are in the country legally should not be targeted by ICE and should be able to work, attend school, and live normally; she supports arrest and deportation of people who entered illegally and engaged in criminal activity.

Jackson's campaign says he would dismantle and abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The campaign's priorities page does not provide further detail on how immigration enforcement or other immigration policy should be handled.

Senator Collins supports bipartisan gun-safety measures that she says preserve Second Amendment rights for law-abiding gun owners. She supported and helped negotiate the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, including funding for crisis-intervention programs such as Maine’s yellow-flag law and new offenses targeting straw purchasing and firearms trafficking; she has also backed red-flag legislation with due-process protections.

Jackson says he supports responsible gun ownership and Maine’s sporting traditions while also supporting gun-safety measures, arguing that gun rights carry responsibilities. The Maine Gun Safety Coalition says he evolved on gun safety after the Lewiston shooting, led his caucus in passing universal background checks and a 72-hour waiting-period law, and vocally supported Question 2; the coalition lists him as a 2026 U.S. Senate gun-safety champion based on his questionnaire, voting record, and public statements.

Susan Collins emphasizes U.S. national security through her work on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, including defense funding supporting Maine-based shipyards and defense companies.

Jackson's campaign says he would work to end what it calls the genocide in Gaza and would support no U.S. tax dollars going to Israel's military. Searches did not identify a newer public foreign-policy statement after August 7, 2026; this position is documented on his campaign priorities page.

Susan Collins has supported federal LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections, including the Equality Act, and has advocated for marriage equality. More recently, she said transgender people deserve respect and dignity but voted for an amendment barring transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports, arguing that Title IX athletic participation should be based on sex rather than gender identity.

Jackson's campaign says he will protect the right to vote and organize for every American and pass comprehensive civil-rights legislation protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. His campaign priorities also call for a federal right to abortion, which it presents as part of its Senate agenda.

Susan Collins supports education at all levels, including early childhood education, K–12 public schools, and more affordable higher education. She says she will pursue robust federal funding and targeted legislation for effective programs that help teachers and students succeed; her education page also highlights a bipartisan bill allowing early-childhood educators to deduct out-of-pocket classroom-supply purchases and legislation to block transfers of Education Department offices.

Jackson has a strong record of supporting public education, earning a 100% rating from the Maine Education Association for his support of education issues during the 126th Legislature. As Senate Majority Leader he supported increased public school funding and opposed school voucher programs, lifting the cap on charter schools, and a state takeover of failing schools.

Senator Collins supports restricting materially deceptive AI-generated audio, images, and video used in certain federal election-related communications, with exceptions for parody, satire, and news broadcasts. She has also supported public investment in high-performance computing infrastructure to strengthen Maine’s digital-economy research, innovation, and AI-related industries.

Jackson has publicly supported a restrictive, worker- and consumer-protection approach to artificial intelligence. His “Agency over AI” proposal called for preventing corporations from using AI as a justification for mass layoffs, limiting routine AI use in classrooms and homework, protecting Mainers’ data from harvesting and sale, regulating data centers for effects on electricity costs and water supplies, and requiring transparency when government uses AI; his current Senate priorities page does not list a separate Tech & AI plank.

Susan Collins supports strengthening election security through bipartisan measures. She co-authored the SECURE IT Act provision enacted in the FY2026 NDAA, directing the Election Assistance Commission to require penetration testing for election systems seeking certification, and she announced support for the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration and specified voter ID for voting.

Jackson's campaign says he will protect the right to vote and organize for every American and supports overturning Citizens United to remove dark money from politics. The campaign page does not provide additional specifics on election-administration policies such as voter ID, mail voting, or ranked-choice voting.

Senator Collins emphasizes delivering federal resources to Maine communities through Congressionally Directed Spending and targeted infrastructure, public safety, health, workforce, housing, and education projects. In February 2026, her Senate office reported securing $428.643 million for 158 projects across all 16 Maine counties, including roads and bridges, water and wastewater infrastructure, hospitals, housing-related infrastructure, and fire, police, and EMS facilities; her campaign likewise highlights delivering for Maine, jobs and workforce development, and support for Maine communities.

Jackson's campaign says he would prioritize working families and strengthen rural communities across Maine, emphasizing that no Mainer should be left behind because of where they live. His campaign identifies housing, child care, utility bills, health-care and prescription-drug costs, and the need for young people to be able to build a life in Maine as local concerns; its platform also calls for Medicare for All, lower prescription-drug costs, working-class tax relief, and taxing billionaires and corporations.