Graham Platner, the populist Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, is in a virtual dead heat in a crucial Senate showdown with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, according to a new poll.

Platner, the embattled candidate who has been facing a slew of controversies, stands at 49% support among likely voters questioned in a New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll released on Monday, with Collins at 47%, and 3% of respondents undecided or refusing to answer. Platner’s two-point edge is within the survey’s sampling error, meaning the contest is virtually tied.

Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.

The high-profile and likely combustible and expensive race is among a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections. Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.

GAME ON IN KEY SENATE RACE AS PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

Platner, a military combat veteran and oyster farmer who is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, earlier this month easily defeated two longshot rivals in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary.

Platner, who advocates an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class, also topped two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in the primary. The governor’s name remained on the ballot even though Mills, who had been backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, suspended her bid this spring after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.

Platner’s victory also came as he was facing one of the roughest stretches of his bid for the U.S. Senate.

He was playing defense the past couple of months amid multiple controversies. They included inflammatory online comments made on Reddit, a well-publicized and now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol, recent reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married, and allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes. Platner has called the allegations of violence untrue.

THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY

A day before the primary, a former high-level staffer from the Platner campaign wrote in the Washington Post that Platner «is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country.»

The mounting controversies grabbed plenty of attention and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods, but didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination. More than 9 in 10 Platner supporters questioned in the poll said they had heard about his controversies but that their vote for him was based on where he stands on the issues.

Platner, who has acknowledged his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours of duty in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines last fall soon after he launched his Senate campaign.

And Platner has said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia. He said that he covered up the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol. But allegations from an ex-girlfriend raise questions about Platner’s timeline regarding knowledge of the tattoo.

In his primary night victory speech, Platner emphasized that he’s a changed man. 

«If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,» Platner told the crowd. «And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it. And the reason that I have lived it is because of my wife.»

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Democratic Senate nominee in Maine Graham Platner and his wife speak with supporters following his primary night victory speech, in Blue Hill, Maine on June 9, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News Digital)

The new poll, conducted June 19-26, suggests Platner is having some difficulty winning over some voters who want the Democrats to take back power in Congress.

Fifty-four percent of respondents said they’d like to see the Democrats win back the Senate majority in the midterms, five points higher than the 49% who are supporting Platner. And Collins is capturing 10% of voters who prefer the Democrats control the Senate.

The poll also indicates that a majority of Maine voters don’t believe Platner has «good character» or the «right kind of moral values» and nearly half say he’s too extreme.

By contrast, more than 6 in 10 say Collins has «good character» and the «right kind of moral values» and only a third said she was too extreme for Maine.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Meanwhile, some Democratic respondents worried that the 41-year-old Platner, who has never held elective office, would be «too inexperienced.»

But there are also warning signs for Collins.

A majority questioned said they thought the senator would be too supportive of Trump and even some of her own supporters worry that the 73-year-old Collins is too old to be an effective senator.

The senator voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, in 2021, soon after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And early last year she opposed the confirmation of now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

But she is also remembered for her 2018 vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which eventually helped the court’s conservative majority overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.

Beating Collins won’t be easy.

Six years ago, public opinion polls indicated the senator was headed to defeat, but Collins defied expectations and won re-election by topping then-Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon by nine points.

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The new survey is the latest to indicate Platner with a slight edge over Collins, although a Pine Tree Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire late last month suggested Platner held a nine-point lead.

Spotlighting the new poll, the Platner campaign wrote in a social media post that «Susan Collins has the billionaires. The lobbyists. The Super PACs. The Washington establishment. But we have Maine.»

La Unión Europea y China pusieron ayer las bases para evitar una guerra comercial que parecía inminente ante la negativa china a tomar medidas para reequilibrar el comercio y la orden de los líderes europeos a la Comisión Europea de preparar medidas de retorsión comercial.

El déficit comercial de la Unión Europea con China llegó en 2025 a casi 400.000 millones de euros, más de 1.000 millones de euros cada día. Y en los primeros meses de este año el desequilibrio comercial ha ido aumentando. Los últimos datos dicen que el déficit comercial europeo con China era en mayo pasado un 15% superior al del mismo mes del año anterior. El de Alemania un 31% superior.

Las visitas de los dirigentes europeos a Beijing en los últimos meses (el alemán Friedrich Merz, el francés Emmanuel Macron, el español Pedro Sánchez o el británico Keir Starmer) sirvieron en algunos casos para atraer inversión china a Europa pero no para reequilibrar esa relación comercial.

La guerra comercial se iba acercando, aunque en la práctica a ninguno de los dos bloques le interesa. Este lunes, el comisario europeo de Comercio, Maros Sefcovic y el ministro chino de Comercio, Wang Wentao, pusieron las bases para evitar ese conflicto y pactaron medidas a corto y a medio plazo que tienen en cuenta las preocupaciones de Bruselas pero sin incordiar sobremanera a Beijing. Europa teme cualquier tipo de medida de retorsión desde China, de quien tiene una dependencia cada vez mayor en insumos esenciales como tierras raras.

La primera reunión del nuevo sistema de Consultas e Inversiones EU-China, de la que se esperaba poco resultado concreto, dio lugar a varios acuerdos “para estabilizar y hacer más equilibrada la relación bilateral”, según el comunicado conjunto de Maros Sefcovic y Wang Wentao. De la reunión salió sobre todo la creación de grupos de trabajo que deben dar resultados como máximo en octubre y que tratan sobre ese desequilibrio comercial, control de exportaciones, derechos de propiedad intelectual y la reforma de la Organización Mundial del Comercio.

Lo que Europa considera desequilibrio comercial con China para China es simplemente la competitividad de su economía. Pero China amenaza con medidas de retorsión comercial si los europeos ponen en marcha cualquier tipo de mecanismo que fuerce a sus empresas a buscar otros proveedores cuando su dependencia de China sea excesiva. Esa herramienta, en estudio, podría llegar a multar a las empresas europeas que no buscaran alternativas fuera de China cuando las hubiera.

Bruselas y Beijing también acordaron poner en marcha un mecanismo que supervisará “datos relevantes sobre intercambios (comerciales), flujos de comercio” y que “mejorará la transparencia y la confianza mutua para gestionar fricciones comerciales”. Los europeos desconfían de algunos datos que publica China y sólo se fían de sus aduanas.

China aceptó en la reunión “incrementar medidas de acceso a mercados” (muchas empresas europeas protestan porque todavía tienen restricciones para operar en China) e “iniciativas que puedan contribuir a equilibrar la relación comercial”.

El comunicado conjunto (algo muy raro en la práctica de la Comisión Europea) posterior a la reunión también asegura que tanto Bruselas como Beijing creen que el mecanismo puesto en marcha el año pasado para hablar de “tierras raras y otros materiales críticos y minerales” está dando buenos resultados. Pero acordaron que deben hacer más para “facilitar los esfuerzos que buscan mantener la estabilidad de las cadenas de suministros globales”.

China consiguió apoyo europeo para avanzar en la reforma de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, abandonada por Estados Unidos y que Beijing considera volcada a favor de los intereses occidentales. Las dos partes se comprometieron trabajar en conjunto en esa reforma “mejorando la autoridad y la efectividad de la OMC”.

De la reunión salen advertencias. El comisario Sefcovic explicó que espera “resultados tangibles” como muy tarde en octubre, cuando viajará a Beijing para una segunda reunión. La Comisión Europea tiene el mandato de los líderes nacionales de tomar medidas si el diálogo no funciona.

Julio y agosto son meses no hábiles políticamente en Bruselas salvo una emergencia. A principios de septiembre la presidenta de la Comisión Europea debe anunciar qué medidas aplicaría si el diálogo no dio resultados. A finales de octubre los dirigentes europeos las aprobarían. En las seis semanas entre esos dos momentos debe haber un acuerdo o estallará una guerra comercial entre dos de los mayores bloques comerciales del planeta.

Los gobiernos europeos quieren medidas drásticas si el diálogo no da frutos claros porque la industria europea pena hasta el punto de que la semana pasada se supo que Volkswagen, primera automotriz europea, prepara 100.000 despidos y el cierre de cuatro usinas porque es incapaz de competir contra los autos chinos híbridos y eléctricos.

Justo este lunes el Ministerio de Economía alemán aprobó la compra de la mayor cadena de tiendas de electrónica de Europa, el grupo MediaMarktSaturn, por el grupo chino JD.Com.

People granted asylum in Britain could have to repay the government about £10,000, roughly more than $13,000, for accommodation and basic living support before they can become eligible to apply for settlement, officials announced on Monday.

This comes as immigration has become one of the most important issues in British politics, consistently ranking among voters’ top concerns in polling.

Under the proposed rules, the government says repayments would be means-tested and limited to adults above an income threshold. Officials say safeguards would be included to prevent people from being pushed into extreme poverty, though key details of the threshold and enforcement mechanism have not yet been published.

FARAGE SAYS MASS MIGRATION HAS CHANGED THE UK ‘LITERALLY BEYOND RECOGNITION,’ BELIEVES PARTY CAN WIN ELECTION

The rules would not be applied retrospectively and children would not be subject to the payments.

«Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility,» Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. «Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.»

Mahmood explained that her latest reforms aim to reduce the burden on taxpayers’ wallets.

The government would only charge adults who can afford to pay. (Geography Photos/Universal Images Group)

The Home Office also said over the weekend that it aims to remove 45,000 more people with no legal right to remain and foreign criminals within the next decade, in addition to the tens of thousands already being removed on a yearly basis.

The center-left Labour Party has increased efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration as it seeks to counter the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has vowed to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers and other people whose claims or appeals have failed.

«Mass migration has changed this country, certainly in many of our cities, literally beyond recognition,» Farage told Fox News Digital last week. «We’ve not been selective about who’s been able to come into the country. That is a major contributory factor.»

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Shabana Mahmood, Britain’s home secretary, said the reforms aim to reduce the burden on taxpayers’. (Getty Images)

Refugee advocates and migration researchers have criticized the proposal, arguing it could punish people who fled persecution and questioning whether many refugees would earn enough to repay the proposed sum. Critics have also warned that tying repayment to settlement could create uncertainty for people trying to rebuild their lives in the UK.

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The Labour Party has faced internal divisions over how tight its immigration policy should be, and the party is up against further overall uncertainty after its leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, announced last week that he will resign.

Reuters contributed to this report.