今年有多场参议院竞选可能决定哪个党派赢得多数席位，但有些竞选在影响方面比其他竞选“更平等”。其中最重要的一场是缅因州的竞选，因为全国左翼力量试图让共和党中间派现任议员苏珊·柯林斯落选。
Any of several Senate races could decide which party wins the majority this year, but some races are more equal than others in their implications. One of the most important is the Maine race, as the national left tries to unseat Republican centrist incumbent Susan Collins.
进步派已将选出挑战者特洛伊·杰克逊列为优先事项，这对他们的未来至关重要，正如密歇根州的激进候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德（见附近报道）一样。为这位前州参议员助选的民主党人名单说明了一切：参议员伯尼·桑德斯和伊丽莎白·沃伦，以及众议员亚历山德拉·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯。杰克逊先生曾是桑德斯先生2016年和2020年总统竞选在缅因州的主要支持者。
Progressives have made electing challenger Troy Jackson a priority, as important to their future as Michigan’s radical candidate Abdul El-Sayed (see nearby). The Democrats who have campaigned for the former state Senator tell the tale: Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Mr. Jackson was a leading supporter in Maine of Mr. Sanders’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
形成鲜明对比的是，前西弗吉尼亚州民主党人乔·曼钦为柯林斯女士助选。关键在于，缅因州这场竞选的胜负将不仅仅关乎一张参议院选票。它还将影响下届参议院以及两个政党的倾向和文化。
By telling contrast, former West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin campaigned for Ms. Collins. The point is that victory or defeat in the Maine race will count for more than one Senate vote. It will also influence the tilt and culture of the next Senate and both political parties.
杰克逊先生已从年轻时明显反堕胎的立场转变为左派人士。他现在支持“全民医保”，却不承认桑德斯先生建立该制度的法案将禁止私人保险，并耗资约30万亿美元。他支持征收财富税，并对年收入超过100万美元的部分征收4%的附加税。
Mr. Jackson has changed from his younger days when he was notably anti-abortion to become a man of the left. He now favors Medicare for All without acknowledging that Mr. Sanders’s bill establishing it would outlaw private insurance and cost some $30 trillion. He supports a wealth tax and a 4% surtax on annual income above $1 million.
他说他不会支持查克·舒默担任民主党领袖，因为这位纽约人不够党派化。（舒默先生无论如何都支持他。）杰克逊先生说以色列在加沙犯下了种族灭绝罪，他将切断对这个犹太国家的军事援助。他主张废除移民与海关执法局（ICE）。
He says he won’t support Chuck Schumer for Democratic leader because the New Yorker isn’t partisan enough. (Mr. Schumer supports him anyway.) Mr. Jackson says Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and he’d cut off military aid to the Jewish state. He’d abolish ICE.
作为2018年至2024年缅因州参议院领袖，他领导了向政策左翼的急剧转向。由于缅因州的监管和竞争较少，一份基准“奥巴马医改”计划在缅因州的费用比隔壁新罕布什尔州高出77%。可以公正地说，杰克逊先生将加入参议院那个不妥协的强硬左翼核心小组。
As leader of the Maine Senate from 2018-2024, he led a sharp move to the policy left. The cost of a benchmark ObamaCare plan in Maine is 77% higher than across the border in New Hampshire because of Maine’s regulation and less competition. It’s fair to say Mr. Jackson would join the Senate’s no-compromise hard-left caucus.
柯林斯女士在任期间的记录截然不同。她是共和党多数派中的中间派，以与曼钦等民主党人跨党派合作而闻名。这有时会让保守派感到沮丧，包括我们对她在拨款委员会席位上的支出立场感到沮丧。但毫无疑问，她为缅因州争取了利益，特别是该州那些不像波特兰那样由“绅士左派”主导的贫困地区。
Ms. Collins has had a markedly different record in office. She’s a centrist in the GOP’s majority and is known for working across the aisle with the likes of Mr. Manchin. This can sometimes frustrate conservatives, including us on spending from her seat on Appropriations. But there’s no doubt she has delivered for Maine, especially the poor parts of the state that aren’t dominated by the gentry left as Portland is.
柯林斯女士还设法缓和了政府一些破坏性的政策。她反对特朗普总统对加拿大征收的50%边境税，并为缅因州的造纸厂争取到了多项豁免，涉及道路用盐、水泥和纸浆。上周五，她的游说又获得了新豁免，涵盖来自加拿大的更多具体产品。
Ms. Collins has also been able to soften some of the Administration’s destructive policies. She opposes President Trump’s 50% border tax on Canada, and she has won multiple exemptions such as on road salt, cement and pulp for Maine’s paper mills. Last Friday her lobbying paid off in new exemptions on many more specific products from Canada.
一些选民对这位参议员投票确认最高法院大法官布雷特·卡瓦诺感到不满，后者曾投票推翻“罗诉韦德案”判决。但她也投票确认了自由派大法官索尼娅·索托马约尔和凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊。杰克逊先生不太可能支持特朗普提名的任何人选，并表示他愿意增加大法官名额以“填塞”最高法院。至于堕胎问题，在最高法院将堕胎政策交还各州后，缅因州通过了一部比“罗案”时期更自由的法律。
Some voters are upset by the Senator’s vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But she also voted to confirm liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Mr. Jackson is unlikely to support any Trump nominee and has said he’s open to adding Justices to pack the Supreme Court. As for abortion, Maine passed a law that is more liberal than the regime under Roe after the Court returned abortion policy to the states.
缅因州的这场竞选也将影响两大党在未来两年的行事方式。如果杰克逊获胜，加上埃尔-赛义德在密歇根州获胜，将推动左翼在民主党内日益增长的力量。更多民主社会主义者将参加初选。奥卡西奥-科尔特斯可能会将其视为信号，选择竞选总统，而不是在纽约州挑战舒默的参议员席位。
The Maine contest will also influence how the two main parties proceed in the next two years. A Jackson victory, along with one by Mr. El-Sayed in Michigan, will advance the left’s growing strength in the Democratic Party. More Democratic socialists will run in primaries. And Ms. Ocasio-Cortez might take it as a signal to run for President rather than against Mr. Schumer for Senate in New York.
如果柯林斯女士获胜，将表明一位独立思考的共和党人即使在倾向民主党的州也能生存。新罕布什尔州的共和党人约翰·苏努努也是如此。如果他们失利，参议院的两极分化将加剧，在支出和其他政策上的妥协将变得更不可能。
If Ms. Collins wins, it would show that an independent-minded Republican can survive even in a Democratic-leaning state. The same goes for Republican John Sununu in New Hampshire. If they lose, Senate polarization will increase and compromise on spending and other policies is far less likely.
缅因州的竞争基本持平，科林斯女士背负着特朗普先生不受欢迎的负担。讽刺的是，作为参议院中立共和党人，她在参议院势均力敌的情况下，对特朗普先生的过度行为的制约力度会比杰克逊先生作为另一名左翼后座议员更强。
The Maine race is essentially tied, and Ms. Collins has the burden of Mr. Trump’s unpopularity. The irony is that as a centrist Republican in a closely divided Senate, she’d be a better check on Mr. Trump’s excesses than Mr. Jackson would be as one more left-wing backbencher.