PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Late Democratic entry Troy Jackson won Maine’s U.S. Senate seat early Wednesday, defeating longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins , taking advantage of President Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity to dislodge an incumbent who had survived tough challenges in the past.
After he announced in July that he would withdraw from the Senate race, Jackson won a special nominating convention later that month. Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer, had drawn huge crowds and enthusiasm but also faced a string of controversies.
“In the end, if you work hard, you should be able to build a decent life,” Jackson said at a campaign event near Portland in September. “But that’s not the reality right now.”
Instead, he threw his hat in for the Democratic nomination for governor but lost. “It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate. Jackson initially didn’t plan to run for Senate this year.
Jackson, 58, a fifth-generation logger and former president of the state Senate, had a little more than 100 days to sell himself to Maine voters after he replaced Graham Platner as the party’s nominee in July. Collins, 73, was widely perceived as the most vulnerable Senate Republican this election year. She entered Election Day as the only Republican lawmaker in Congress from New England and was seeking her sixth term representing a state that has voted for the Democratic candidate for president since 1992. I’m proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years,” Collins said in a statement after calling Jackson to concede. Collins was first elected in 1996 and has touted her independence from Trump and her party. She has said she didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, and she voted to convict the president after his 2021 impeachment over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
