Lindsey Graham neck-and-neck with Jaime Harrison, Susan Collins 12 points behind challenger in latest poll

South Carolina Senate candidate Jaime Harrison.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The good news keeps pouring in for Democrats looking to retake the Senate this fall.

After a poll released earlier Wednesday put Democrat Mark Kelly 10 points over Sen. Martha McSally (R) in Arizona, a Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday gave Sara Gideon a similar edge over Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.). The poll also showed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tied with his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, mirroring other recent polls that show a tight race in the state.

Collins is a moderate senator who's held her seat for more than 20 years. But her votes to approve Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sparked anger from Democrats and a flood of outside donations for her opponent even before a challenger joined the race. Now, less than two months before Election Day, Gideon has a 12-point lead over the incumbent, the Quinnipiac poll shows. That's a big swing from 2014, when Collins won re-election with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

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In South Carolina, Graham is tied at 48 percent with former state Democratic party chair Harrison, per Quinnipiac. The last Quinnipiac poll also had them tied at 44 percent in early August. Still, things aren't looking quite as good for Amy McGrath, the former Marine fighter pilot challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). McConnell got 49 percent support to McGrath's 45 percent support in the state, another Quinnipiac poll showed.

From Sept. 10-14, Quinnipiac surveyed 1,183 likely voters in Maine with a 2.9-point margin of error. In Kentucky, it surveyed 1,164 likely voters with a 2.9 point margin of error. And in South Carolina, it surveyed 969 likely voters with a 3.2 point margin of error.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.