In Portland, Maine A leading abortion rights group has endorsed Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, while attacking the record of his Republican opponent, Senator Susan Collins. Mini Timmaraju, president of the advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, hailed Jackson - who was formerly an opponent of abortion - for “evolving” on the issue at a last-minute canvassing event in Scarborough. At the same time, she attacked Collins for trying to depict herself as “pro-choice”, saying she had voted to confirm the conservative US Supreme Court justice, Samuel Alito, who was the author of the 2022 court ruling that overturned the historic Roe versus Wade decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. Jackson has repeatedly criticised Collins’ 2018 vote to confirm another conservative justice, Brett Kavanaugh, who subsequently voted to overturn Roe v Wade. Timmaraju said Jackson’s election was vital to counteract a Trump administration plan to be “hand-off on abortion