2026 Senate Debate Tracker: Every Remaining Debate, and What Happened in the Big Four

Debate season arrived all at once. Between October 6 and 8, the Senate candidates in Maine, Iowa, Michigan and Georgia, four of the races most likely to decide control of the chamber, all met on stage. Maine’s candidates did it twice.

Below: the schedule of everything still to come, then a recap of each debate so far, with the fact-checks that matter. We’ll keep this page updated through Election Day.

Upcoming Senate debates

Already held

• Aug. 27 & Sept. 12 · AlaskaSullivan and Peltola debated on energy, then on fisheries in Kodiak.
• Sept. 1 · NebraskaSen. Pete Ricketts and independent Dan Osborn met at the State Fair in what was billed as their only debate.
• September · KansasMarshall and Hamilton debated before a loud State Fair crowd; Hamilton supporters shouted Marshall down several times.
• Sept. 15 · MichiganFox 2 debate held with an empty podium after Rogers declined, objecting to the moderator.
• Oct. 6 & Oct. 8 · MaineCollins vs. Jackson, debates 1 and 2.
• Oct. 7 · IowaHinson vs. Turek on Iowa PBS.
• Oct. 8 · Michigan and GeorgiaEl-Sayed vs. Rogers in Grand Rapids; Ossoff vs. Collins in Atlanta.

Maine: Collins vs. Jackson

Cook: Toss-Up

Debate 1 (Oct. 6): Collins runs from Trump; Jackson ties her to him

Sen. Susan Collins spent the first debate putting distance between herself and the president. She told the moderators she is “not exactly his favorite senator,” said she doesn’t expect Trump to come to Maine, and pointed to her breaks with him on the Iran war and tariffs against Canada. Her core argument was seniority: as chair of the Appropriations Committee, she says, she delivers for Maine. She also turned the state’s high energy and housing costs on Jackson, who led the state Senate until 2024.

Troy Jackson, a logger from Allagash and former state Senate president, made the race a referendum on Collins’s record with Trump. He hit her on the Kavanaugh confirmation, new ICE funding, and the Iran war. He wants to abolish ICE; Collins says it needs reform. The Boston Globe noted that Jackson repeatedly and falsely claimed Collins voted for last year’s tax-and-spending law. A Marist poll released hours before the debate found only 1% of likely voters undecided.

Debate 2 (Oct. 8): personal attacks, and one point of agreement

• The sharpest exchange: Jackson accused Collins and her husband of profiting from the Iran war through stock holdings. Collins called the charge outrageous and demanded an apology; Jackson didn’t give one. Collins in turn accused Jackson of reversing himself on corporate donations, tying it to his son’s lobbying.
• Voting with Trump: Jackson said Collins votes with Trump 96% of the time. A CQ Roll Call analysis found about 95% for the first seven months of 2025. Collins said she has voted against Trump 137 times.
• Abortion: Collins called Jackson an extremist on the issue, citing his past opposition to a bill on health-threatening pregnancies. Jackson said he changed his views after listening to women: “Mine has gotten better — hers has gotten worse.”
• Agreement: both said higher earners should pay more into Social Security. Jackson would scrap the earnings cap; Collins would adjust it and proposed an expert panel.

Iowa: Hinson vs. Turek (Oct. 7)

Cook: Toss-Up

Iowa’s open-seat race came into its first debate essentially tied: the latest NYT/Siena poll (Sept. 22–Oct. 1, 606 likely voters) had Rep. Ashley Hinson ahead 48–47, and Kalshi priced her chances at about 55%.

• Hinson’s wealth. Turek said her family’s wealth has grown 15-fold since she entered Congress. Hinson said the gains came from her husband selling his insurance business in 2021, and that the couple sold their individual stocks that year.
• Turek’s attendance. Hinson said Turek missed 58% of votes in the Iowa House this year and called on him to return nearly $20,000 in per diem pay. Turek didn’t directly explain the absences, pointing instead to his bipartisan record.
• Social Security. Turek would apply the payroll tax to all income, not just earnings up to $184,500, and opposes raising the retirement age. Hinson didn’t say whether she’d lift the cap or raise the age; she proposed a bipartisan commission.
• Agreement: both want AI protections from Congress, more action on record diesel costs, and no tax breaks for data centers. They split on the Iran war.

Michigan: El-Sayed vs. Rogers (Oct. 8)

Cook: Toss-Up

Michigan’s first general-election debate, in Grand Rapids, was the roughest of the week. The moderator struggled to keep order as the two traded personal attacks. When Rogers suggested a member of El-Sayed’s family might be on a terrorism watch list, El-Sayed dared him: “Just say it.” El-Sayed, for his part, painted Rogers as a yacht-owning millionaire who cashed in on public office.

On policy, both want the Iran war to end but disagree on whether it should have started. Rogers backs continued aid to Israel; El-Sayed wants it ended and the money spent at home. Both called for a less militarized deportation operation; El-Sayed supports abolishing ICE. Rogers distanced himself from the trade war and said he wants a deal with Canada.

Georgia: Ossoff vs. Collins (Oct. 8)

Cook: Likely D

Sen. Jon Ossoff leads in the polls and in fundraising, but he debated like a challenger. The AJC described him framing the hour as a “trial of Mike Collins,” pressing the Republican more than a dozen times on reported ties to white nationalists, an ethics investigation, and his support for Trump’s agenda.

Collins called Ossoff a trust-fund kid who has never held a job and tied him to Bernie Sanders, Hasan Piker and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed. He defended the tariffs and the Iran war, saying Trump has the right to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Ossoff called the war a disaster and said tariffs and rising diesel costs are hurting Georgia farmers. They also clashed over Medicaid cuts and rural hospitals, voter ID, and immigration, including the Laken Riley Act, which Collins helped write. Asked about Israel, Ossoff said there was no doubt Israel had violated the law of armed conflict.

They meet again Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Atlanta Press Club — the same day early voting opens in Georgia.