Israel becomes a key issue in Maine’s critical Senate race

If you were searching for the next major American political battleground over Israel, Maine probably wouldn’t be the first place that comes to mind. It might not even make the top ten. After all, it happens to be one of the least religious states in the country.

Yet Israel is factoring squarely in the center of one of the most consequential U.S. Senate races of 2026. 

Republican Sen. Susan Collins is seeking a sixth term against Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, a former logger and longtime Maine politician who previously served as president of the state Senate. 

The race is considered highly competitive. The Cook Political Report currently rates the contest a toss-up, putting Maine among a handful of states that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.

But buried beneath the typical political back-and-forth over abortion, Donald Trump’s policies, the economy, etc, it turns out that the issue over Israel is creating some rather unusual political alliances.

Troy Jackson has taken a decidedly harder line against the Jewish state. During his campaign so far, he has said he supports ending U.S. military aid that facilitates Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and has explicitly called Israel’s conduct there a “genocide.”

“Yes. I support ending U.S. military aid that enables Israel’s assault on Gaza, which is a genocide,” Jackson said in response to a Portland Press Herald candidate questionnaire. 

He has also pledged not to accept money from AIPAC, the influential pro-Israel advocacy organization.

That’s quite a contrast with Collins. The longtime Republican senator has consistently described herself as pro-Israel and previously backed major U.S. security assistance for the Jewish state.

Collins called Israel America’s “closest ally in the Middle East” when arguing for a national security funding package following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.

To be clear, Collins isn’t necessarily a rubber stamp for every Israeli or Trump administration policy. She has repeatedly sided with congressional efforts to limit President Trump’s ability to continue U.S. military operations against Iran without congressional authorization. However, there is little doubt about which candidate occupies the more traditional pro-Israel lane.

What has happened is the race has produced a political dilemma among some of Maine’s Jewish voters.

“I, and many Jews in Maine, certainly feel politically homeless at this point,” Chris Myers Asch, a Jewish history teacher at Colby College, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We don’t feel like there are candidates who actually represent us and that we trust to defend our interests.”

Maine’s Jewish community may be relatively small but it leans heavily to the left. If Democrats have any hope of flipping Maine blue (Republican), they can’t afford to lose the Jewish vote.

A 2024 Brandeis University study estimated roughly 19,000 Jews live in Maine, representing about 10,600 households. Nearly 70% identified themselves as liberal or very liberal. These aren’t voters Republicans could historically count on but Israel could change the calculation.

The controversy became significant enough that every congregational rabbi in Maine recently signed a public statement urging political leaders to stop describing Israel’s war against Hamas as “genocide.”

Rabbi Rachel Isaacs of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, Maine, went even further, arguing that the term had become a kind of political “currency” inside Maine Democratic politics.

“Too many Maine Democrats are cynically willing to trade in that currency at the expense of our safety and dignity,” Isaacs said.

All of this is unfolding in one of America’s most secular states. Pew Research Center’s latest Religious Landscape Study found 39% of Maine adults are religiously unaffiliated – 5% atheist, 9% agnostic and 25% who describe their religion as “nothing in particular.” Nationally, 29% of Americans are religiously unaffiliated. 

Only about 22% of Maine adults identify as evangelical Protestants, according to Pew. Jews make up roughly 1% of the state’s adult population. 

There’s no doubt Maine is one of the least religious states in the nation. That’s actually what makes the Israel dynamic especially noteworthy.

Normally, in states such as Texas or Tennessee, strong support for Israel can often be explained partly through the enormous influence of evangelical Christians whose attachment to Israel is rooted in biblical theology. That’s not Maine.

In this state, the political battle over Israel is unfolding largely through questions of foreign policy, antisemitism, progressive politics and the future direction of the Democratic Party.

For most of Troy Jackson’s career in Maine politics, Israel was hardly a central part of his pitch.  He rarely talked about it, but while positioning himself to replace former Democratic nominee Graham Platner this summer, Jackson adopted several of the positions popular among the Democratic Party’s progressive wing – including labeling Gaza a genocide and opposing additional U.S. military aid to Israel.

Troy Jackson is just the latest democrat to move to the left on Israel. It could cost the Democrats a chance to pick up a key Senate seat in November.