
By Lauren McCauley | Editor
“When you start to get into a situation like that, you do wonder if you run up against the limits of what small dollar donors can do.” - Mark Brewer, chair of the political science department at the University of Maine, on the outsized PAC money pouring into the U.S. Senate race.

A demonstration on the steps of the Blaine House in Augusta on Sept. 26, 2023 to protest the state employee wage gap. (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
By Kaitlyn Budion
The union has been without a contract for nearly a year, after the previous contract expired at the end of June, 2025, with the salary dispute being central to the impasse.
By Emma Davis
The Very Concerned PAC, a nod to the oft-repeated critique of Collins being “very concerned” about issues but not casting votes to rectify them, is being led by an undisclosed team of Democratic strategists, working in a volunteer capacity at this time, with track records winning at various levels in Maine elections.
COMMENTARY
By Lauren McCauley
In an era where people have grown accustomed to uploading their data and having an AI bot produce near-instantaneous results, Maine’s electoral processes look downright Stone Age.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Trump ‘trampled’ voter privacy by feeding info into Homeland Security system, judge says | Jonathan Shorman, States Newsroom
US Supreme Court further erodes Voting Rights Act by declining Arkansas case, advocates say | Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
When teens drive less, they don’t register to vote. Here’s how civic groups are adapting. | Jonathan Shorman, States Newsroom
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