Susan Collins in statistical tie with Democratic challenger: poll

Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is tied with her leading Democratic challenger, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

Forty-two percent of respondents in a Colby College poll said they would vote for Collins compared to 43 percent who said they would support Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and the frontrunner for Democratic nomination.

"The results indicate this could be the kind of race Sen. Collins has not had to deal with before," Dan Shea, a Colby College professor of government and the lead researcher on the poll, said in a statement while caveating that "there’s a long way to go."