Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson are competing in a statistically even Maine Senate race shaped by their shared Aroostook County roots. Collins is from Caribou and Jackson was born in Fort Kent, about 40 miles north. Collins has won five Senate races, with Aroostook County backing her by double-digit margins each time, but Jackson’s campaign expects to break that pattern. Jackson entered the race after original Democratic nominee Graham Platner withdrew following rape allegations that he denies. Andrew Smith of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center said rural turnout could favor Collins, while both campaigns face enthusiasm challenges. Jackson is presenting himself as a Bernie Sanders-style political disrupter and said in a July social-media post that he would defeat Collins and reclaim the seat from billionaires and corporate PACs, which he said have her in their pockets. Voters are also focused on high fuel and heating costs, the Iran war and trade tensions with Canada; Maine’s Department of Energy Resources reported that heating-oil prices had risen 74% in the previous year.