Maine

Jessie Laurel Tepler Mujambere, 28, the adopted son of Maine state Sen. Denise Tepler, D-Topsham, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while leaving the country through New Hampshire this week. He had recently obtained Canadian citizenship and arrived in Canada on Friday, his family said, calling the outcome a "best-case scenario" given he could have faced deportation to Burundi instead.

Mujambere came to the U.S. in 2014 as a teenager fleeing violence in Burundi; the Teplers became his legal guardians. The Department of Homeland Security said his decade-long pending asylum application did not confer legal status, a position immigration attorneys dispute as a departure from past practice.

Maine state Rep. Grayson Lookner argues in an opinion piece that rising visible homelessness in cities like Portland stems from decades-old policy failures, tracing roots to Reagan-era deinstitutionalization that closed asylums without building adequate community housing and treatment supports. He cites the pandemic-era federal Emergency Rental Assistance program as proof that solutions work, noting it kept people housed and reduced visible homelessness before expiring. Lookner contrasts Maine's roughly $400 million annual spending on jails and prisons, which he says function as de facto homelessness and mental health providers, with inadequate funding for eviction prevention. With federal action absent, he calls on the state to fund alternative housing and treatment systems at a comparable scale.

Maine's Senate race between five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic state Senate President Troy Jackson has become a referendum on Collins herself, with polls showing a tight contest. Jackson, a logger-turned-legislator who entered the race after primary winner Graham Platner withdrew amid sexual assault allegations he denies, has hammered Collins over economic anxieties, heating costs, and a ProPublica report on a past FBI bribery inquiry she denies wrongdoing in. Collins has leaned on her record steering federal funding to Maine and warns her seniority loss would hurt the state. A debate exchange over road-salt tariff exemptions went viral, encapsulating the race's focus on her decades-long incumbency rather than Jackson's own candidacy.

Maine's U.S. Senate race between Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson is rated among the closest in the country, raising the possibility that neither candidate wins a first-choice majority on election night. If so, the state would conduct its first-ever statewide ranked-choice count in a general election, a process that has taken up to a week to complete in past elections. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says her office is trying to speed up tabulation but is not promising quick results. Past ranked-choice counts in Maine have drawn legal challenges, and officials expect similar litigation here, echoing a recent Trump-backed effort to block certification in Alaska's ranked-choice Senate race.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins says Washington will exempt several Canadian products, including corrugated paper, plastic boxes, and machinery, from tariffs, citing benefits for her state's agricultural sector. The announcement comes ahead of next month's midterms, with Collins facing a close race against Democrat Troy Jackson. President Trump said the U.S. is close to deals with both Canada and Mexico, though Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa is willing to wait for a future administration if needed. Talks collapsed in August, triggering steep tariffs from both sides, and Canada's chief negotiator says there is no set timeline for resuming formal negotiations.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned in Portland, Maine, for Democrat Troy Jackson, who is challenging Sen. Susan Collins in one of the midterms' most closely watched Senate races. Jackson, a logger from rural northern Maine, entered the race after Graham Platner's campaign collapsed amid sexual assault allegations. Ocasio-Cortez praised Jackson's willingness to campaign alongside a progressive New York lawmaker in a politically different state, and touted policies including Medicare for All and abortion and transgender rights. Jackson addressed concerns from Mainers wary of progressive politics, drawing on his own working-class upbringing. Democrats need to flip Maine and several other GOP-held seats to retake Senate control.