Midterm closing arguments focus on Maine heating oil costs, Trump and immigration

Maine's average statewide heating oil price rose to a record $6.05 per gallon as of October 26, the state Department of Energy Resources said in its weekly survey on October 29, days before the midterm elections on November 3. The figure topped the prior record of $6.04 set October 22 and $6.02 on September 21. Roughly half of Mainers rely on heating oil as their main winter energy source, compared with 3% nationwide. The increase is tied to the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20% to 25% of the world's seaborne oil and petroleum product flow. Sen. Susan Collins has voted five times since February 2026 to extend U.S. military operations in Iran. Canvassers say heating oil is a top issue in the Senate race. Azalea Cormier, an independent House candidate from Buckfield who supports Troy Jackson's campaign, said she has knocked on over 1,000 doors. Nationally, with Election Day on Tuesday, a conservative outlet listed four reasons to vote for candidates it called patriotic populists, starting with border sovereignty under President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The Nation, on the left, ran a piece by Steve Brodner, a graphic artist and journalist who won the 2024 Herb Block Prize for editorial cartooning, framed as Trump's closing argument. The available excerpt shows no further detail, so it centers Trump himself. The Daily Signal, on the right, also uses a closing-argument format but presents a list of reasons to vote for populist candidates. It leads with immigration, praises Trump and Vance against the Biden-Harris open border, and cites DHS figures. Both place the president at the center of the election, one as the subject of the argument and the other as the source of its credit. Drop Site News, an alternative outlet, takes a distinct local angle: Maine heating costs, the Iran war and Collins's votes.