00:00Control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on the state of Maine. Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, a former logger
00:06and labor ally, is challenging longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins, aiming to win back rural and working-class voters turned
00:14off by traditional politics. For the details from the campaign trail, we join our correspondent, Dan Albright.
00:22If Democrats hope to retake control of Congress, Maine could be critical to their chances in the Senate. But can
00:30they win back rural and working-class voters who have moved toward Donald Trump? Troy Jackson is betting that his
00:37background as a logger and longtime labor ally can help him do it in a race against one of the
00:43longest-serving Republicans in the Senate.
00:45USA! USA, not D.S.A.! Let's go, students!
00:52At Thursday's final debate before the election, Senator Susan Collins led with seniority.
00:58Visits required hard work, knowledge, and seniority.
01:03Jackson answered with class.
01:05Growing up as a working-class person, I have all kinds of experience. I mean, I have the experience fighting
01:10for working-class people.
01:11The divide is almost literal. Jackson was a union logger.
01:15Collins comes from a family that owns S.W. Collins Lumber.
01:19Cut SNAP benefits, cut heating assistance, a whole bunch of different things.
01:24That's so that billionaires in this country could have another income tax cut.
01:28In Herman, upstate, repair technician Doug Smith voiced a deeper frustration with the choices voters are given.
01:35They're not telling us what they can do for us. They're telling us what the other one did wrong. Even
01:40the Democrats, both of them, both parties are thieves. We need a complete new system.
01:47Economic frustration may also be scrambling old political loyalties.
01:51I have a couple of friends who are Republicans who are voting for Jackson. I'm not really sure why, but...
01:57Avenger to guess.
01:58The economy. It's always the economy.
02:02Humane political scientist Mark Brewer says Trump's appeal to these voters went beyond traditional Republican cultural politics.
02:10Donald Trump has made front and center, right, that working class Americans have been abandoned by the elites of both
02:21parties. Neither party is serving you well.
02:23Jackson replaced Graham Plattner just four months out from the election after Plattner drew national buzz as a potential working
02:31class tribune before withdrawing amid sexual harassment allegations he denies.
02:37Brewer says Jackson may be less electric, but his biography is harder to dispute.
02:43Plattner was, you know, he built this persona and was widely, you know, seen as kind of this, you know,
02:48epitome of the working class.
02:49But if you kind of dug into his background even just a little bit, that started to fall apart, right?
02:54Whereas with Jackson, you can't argue with his working class bona fides. I mean, they're there.
03:01The question now is whether Jackson can turn that message into votes and whether Maine points to a path for
03:08Democrats elsewhere.
03:09From Bangor, Maine, Dan Albright, Telesor.
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