Maine Democrats nominated Troy Jackson on Saturday as their candidate for U.S. Senate, turning to a fifth-generation logger and former state senate president after scandal forced their original nominee from the race.
Jackson won the support of 566 of 571 delegates at a special party convention in Bangor. He replaces Graham Platner, who suspended his campaign earlier this month after a woman he once dated accused him of raping her in 2021. Platner has denied the allegation.
The contest carries far-reaching political implications. Democrats need to net four seats to retake control of the Senate this fall, and party officials view Maine as one of their best opportunities. Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who has held her seat for 30 years, is the only Republican in the Senate seeking re-election in a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024.
Jackson took the stage at the Cross Insurance Center to rapturous applause and a standing ovation. “This is the absolute honor of my life,” he said. His nomination was all but assured after every major rival stepped aside, including former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and former congressional candidate Jordan Wood.
A scandal-driven reset
Platner’s withdrawal triggered a breakneck scramble inside the Maine Democratic Party to select a new nominee before the state’s 27 July deadline. Party chair Charlie Dingman said the easy solution would have been to let the state committee pick the nominee. “Instead, we responded to the growing grassroots movement in our state to build power for ordinary working people,” he said. Some Democratic voters said the process was not representative of the more than 200,000 voters who turned out in the primary.
Platner, an oysterman and Marine veteran, had survived various controversies, including a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, before the sexual assault allegation became the final straw. His withdrawal came days after Politico reported that a woman he dated five years ago said he forced her to have sex despite repeated objections. Jackson tried to distance himself from the turmoil. He told MS Now that Platner assured him there was “nothing in his past that I had to worry about.” “He lied to me. And he lied to a lot of us,” Jackson said in an interview after Platner posted an 11-minute video announcing his withdrawal.
Jackson, 58, began his political career as a Republican in 2000. He lost but won two years later as an independent before switching to the Democratic Party in 2004. He served three terms in the house and was elected to the state senate, where he served as president from 2018 until 2024. He first came to prominence in the late 1990s when he led a week-long blockade by Maine loggers protesting the employment of Canadian workers, whom they accused of depressing wages. The demonstration ended with police escorting him away but established his reputation as a champion of rural workers.
His platform mirrors much of what Platner emphasized, backing Medicare for All, raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. He is also advocating for Congress to pass civil rights legislation protecting LGBTQ Americans and to federalize the right to an abortion, two issues where he has changed his views after taking more conservative stances early in his career.
State Sen. Stacy Brenner, who has a background as a farmer and nurse, argued that Jackson’s evolution was not a deterrent. “What I find compelling about legislators and policymakers is when they are able to evolve with the thinking of where their heart is, where their mind is, when they learn about data and when they hear stories [from] their constituents,” she said. “That’s what’s happened for Troy,” she added.
A steep road ahead
The Washington Post and CNN have reported that Jackson exhibited a short temper with colleagues during his time in office, with a Washington Post report based on interviews with more than two dozen people describing cursing, shouting, and a thrown water bottle. Former state Sen. Susan Deschambault defended him as passionate, funny, and unwilling to deviate from his positions. “He can get a little testy at times because he’s passionate,” she said. “That’s what we need. We don’t like what’s going on now.”
Jackson has less than four months before the midterm elections to build a war chest and make his case to voters. Collins has sought to portray Jackson as an ideological extremist, describing his political evolution to the Associated Press as that of a “Bernie bro.” Jackson has framed Collins as an enabler of Trump, accusing her of siding with Republicans and corporate interests at decisive moments. “For nearly 30 years, Collins has told me that she is concerned,” Jackson said on Saturday as supporters waved ‘Retire Susan’ placards. “Maine does not need another six years of concern. We need a fighter who remembers exactly who sent them to Washington.”
“This campaign is powered by people who are sick of watching billionaires and corporations buy influence while working families get screwed,” Jackson said in a statement. “Together, we’re building the grassroots movement it will take to defeat Susan Collins and give Maine a senator who answers to working people.”