AUGUSTA — A former engineer for Elon Musk’s SpaceX has filed paperwork to challenge Sen. Susan Collins for her seat in 2026.

Phillip Rench of Waterboro registered as an independent candidate with the Federal Election Commission earlier this month. When contacted via email, he said he is not yet doing media interviews.

Rench and his wife Gwendolyn own Ossipee Hill Farm and Observatory in Waterboro, a venture they began after he left the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch site in Texas in late 2019, according to the farm’s website.

The purchased the land for the farm in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread in the U.S. 

“The events of the pandemic made us more aware of food security and the supply chain,” according to the website. “We decided that we needed to learn how to grow food ourselves. Then we decided we needed to grow food for our community too. That is how the farm was born.”

The website says he is originally from southern Maine.

Rench is the first person to file to run against Collins, who will be seeking her sixth term to the Senate.

The last time Collins ran, in 2020, she defeated former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, a well-funded Democrat, and independent Lisa Savage. Collins earned 51% of the vote, with Gideon at 42% and Savage earning 5%. 

Combined, the race cost $200 million, the costliest election in Maine history.

According to his LinkedIn page, Rench spent just over five years as a former senior engineer at SpaceX and currently serves as a board member for the Maine Space Corporation.

The corporation was created by state law to help develop a space industry in Maine focusing on “launching small vehicles and small satellites into polar orbit.”

When it comes to the 2026 Senate race, no Democrats have filed to run, but Gov. Janet Mills told the Portland Press Herald in December that she had not ruled out a challenge to Collins.