Despite defeating her main competitor, Democrat Sara Gideon, by 8.5 % in the November 3rd election, Susan Collins avoided an Instant-Run Off by only .4 percent. Her 50.42% majority victory is a far cry from her 2014 re-election bid when she carried 67% percent of the state-wide popular vote and got over 60% of each county’s popular vote.

This time, Sen. Collins only carried 14 of Maine’s 16 counties. She got the majority of the popular vote in 11 counties and a plurality of the popular vote in three of them. The remaining two counties, Cumberland & Knox, had each given Collins over 60% of their popular vote in 2014 but flipped for Democrat Sara Gideon in 2020. Sara Gideon carried a 53.8% majority in Cumberland County and 46.8% plurality in Knox County.

Another notable loss for Collins was the drop in UOCAVA votes. These are ballots from Mainers serving in the military and stationed overseas. In 2014, 44.5% of those ballots went for Susan Collins. and here democrat opponent, Shenna Bellows, got 53.4%.

The results of the 2020 election show that Susan Collins, member of numerous Dept. of Defense sub-committee’s, only got 19% of the votes from Mainers stationed overseas. Sara Gideon, despite only receiving 42% of the state-wide popular vote, got 70% of the votes from Mainer’s stationed overseas.

Another troubling sign for the incumbent’s popularity is the fact that, of the 206,443 voters that didn’t vote in 2014 but did vote in 2020, Collins received less than 2% of that voter pool, giving her an additional .8% over her 2014 results. Sara Gideon got over 74% of that same voter pool, giving her an additional 80% over Shenna Bellows’s 2014 results.

Maine US Senate Results Data Breakdown 2014 vs 2020
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Find Maine Secretary of State Source Data For Recent & Past Elections HERE