Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson has been chosen as the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Maine. He will face longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins in November after Democratic primary winner Graham Platner withdrew from the race following a sexual assault allegation, which he has denied.
Controversies around Troy Jackson
Troy Jackson. who is 58, and a former Maine Senate president and fifth-generation logger from rural northern Maine. He first ran for office as a Republican in 2000, seeking a seat in Maine’s House of Representatives, but lost. He won two years later running as an independent. He switched to the Democratic Party in 2004 and eventually became Maine Senate president before leaving the statehouse in 2024.
He came in third while running for governor in this year’s Democratic primary, but had the backing of Graham Platner and Our Revolution, the political organization founded by Bernie Sanders. When Platner dropped out on July 10, several former governor candidates, including Jackson, jumped in to try to take his place. By July 19, most had dropped their bids, leaving Jackson as the clear favorite.
“When the people in power refuse to listen, you have to organize, you have to stand in solidarity, together. And you have to make them listen,” Jackson said during a speech at the last-minute nominating convention.
Asked by reporters about being called a “Bernie Bro,” Jackson said, “I don’t really care. What I am is a guy from northern Maine that’s a logger.”
Also Read: Graham Platner quits Maine Senate race with fiery, F-bomb-filled letter amid sexual assault allegations
Jackson has supported progressive positions such as Medicare for All. He has also called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose presence in Maine has been hotly debated since an agent killed a driver in the state earlier this month.
Jackson replaces Graham Platner, who won the Democratic primary in June but withdrew from the race earlier this month following an allegation of sexual assault, which Platner has denied.
Team Analysis
Republicans have linked Jackson to Platner and called him too extreme for Maine voters. Collins said earlier this week that she knows Jackson well and that his positions are “clearly” in line with socialism, adding, “He’s a Bernie Bro,” noting that Jackson ran Bernie Sanders’ first presidential campaign in Maine.
Collins’ campaign spokesperson, Shawn Roderick, said, “Troy Jackson will attempt to sell Mainers a multi-trillion dollar bill of goods based on rhetoric that will make everything sound free, but in reality would be paid for by middle and lower income workers.”
RNC spokesperson Kristen Cianci also called Jackson “a Platner apologist, a radical Bernie Bro, and a walking red flag displaying all the warning signs of the early days of the Platner campaign.”
Jackson told reporters Saturday that he has not been in touch with Platner and is building a new movement. He acknowledged the disappointment of Platner’s supporters, saying, “I agree there are people that are still very frustrated and angry what happened. I understand that. All I’m trying to do is explain to them that his campaign was about the issues.”
Republicans have also launched an ad campaign against Jackson, accusing him of having a volatile temper. The Senate Leadership Fund, Republicans’ super PAC, said it is committed to spending over $42 million against Jackson.
-with AP inputs
Match Outlook
He said he would attack Collins on what he described as her record of supporting tax cuts for the wealthy and failing to protect health care. Both Jackson and Collins are from northern Maine, where traditional industries such as potato farming and timber harvesting are vital to the economy. Both are expected to argue over the next few months that they are the right leader to protect those industries, along with lobster fishing and tourism.
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