Maine Democrats on Saturday selected former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner as the party’s U.S. Senate nominee. Jackson now has just three months to make his case that Mainers should pick him to represent them in Washington over five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
The Democrats’ scramble echoes the 2024 presidential election, when Kamala Harris ran for president after President Joe Biden withdrew. In this case, Jackson is the one taking the reins toward the end of a tight high-stakes race after his predecessor imploded and dropped out. But considering the disastrous circumstances, the nomination of Jackson looks like a pretty decent outcome for Democrats. There’s reason for cautious optimism that he could prevail in his race, given his unique position as a progressive insider with something to offer voters looking for populist outsiders.
This may end up being the smoothest passing of the baton Democrats could have hoped for.
It all came together shockingly fast. Platner’s campaign collapsed after a sexual assault allegation, and Democrats had less than two weeks to figure out how to replace him on the ballot. And the outcome of the convention held on Saturday had, in fact, been determined by the quickly cobbled-together process leading up to it.
The week before the state convention, registered Democrats voted in county-level mini-conventions in which they selected delegates to send to the state convention. The process was rushed and ad hoc, and the participation in the state conventions was less than a tenth of the primary, but the results were clear: Jackson dominated, winning 478 of 500 delegates up for grabs. Saturday’s state convention was a mere formality.
This may end up being the smoothest passing of the baton Democrats could have hoped for. At the level of state politics, Jackson is understood to be a logical replacement for Platner: He campaigned with him before his scandals, and according to Slate, he had the support of about 75% of the volunteers who had rallied behind Platner.
Jackson, 58, is a known quantity in Maine, having worked for over two decades in state politics, including both in the state Senate and in the state House of Representatives. He has the trust of the state party establishment and has a good reputation among progressive groups in the state. The power of his reputation was evident during the rapid-fire nomination process, as Jackson was able to secure the rapid backing of unions in the state and quickly rack up delegates. “Troy’s been around,” Jason Shedlock, a labor leader in Maine, told CNN. “If you don’t know him, you know somebody who does. And if you don’t know somebody who does, the person standing next to them has been impacted by him.”
At the same time, Jackson has progressive credentials that mirror much of Platner’s policy platform and will help him claim populist status. Before he got into politics, Jackson was a fifth-generation logger and participated in high-profile labor activism. He has supported progressive policies, and his unsuccessful campaign for governor this year was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Jackson’s policy platform for Senate includes demands for Medicare for All, taxing billionaires, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cutting off aid to Israel’s military to “end the genocide in Gaza.” He said he doesn’t support Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York to continue as leader of the Senate Democrats. (He said he prefers Sanders.) Maine Democrats who were excited by Platner’s platform and voted for him overwhelmingly in the primary have little reason to recoil from Jackson.
Jackson also exhibits shades of Platner in one other way: a history of reactionary views. Jackson started in Maine politics as a Republican and entered the Maine State House as an independent, before becoming a Democrat in 2004. He used to be a social conservative, voting against gay marriage and abortion rights. But he has expressed regret about those views, and for years he has supported gay marriage and robust abortion rights, and has since gained the strong backing of advocacy groups that support those rights. His campaign platform calls for a federal right to abortion. Depending on one’s perspective, Jackson’s political evolution could be an asset or a liability. At worst, he could be slammed as unreliable and a chameleon. At best, he will be seen as independent-minded and willing to learn from mistakes.
Jackson currently occupies a competitive position in the polls. A University of New Hampshire poll of likely general election voters in Maine conducted between July 15 and July 20 — that is, while Jackson was gaining momentum before the convention — found 49% of respondents said they would vote for him if the election were held today, while 46% said they would vote for Collins. Meanwhile, 2% said “another candidate” and 3% said they were undecided. And in a promising sign of momentum, even before he clinched the nomination, Jackson raised $1 million for his Senate bid. That’s a lot for a guy who barely raised more than that over the course of an entire campaign for governor, which lasted about a year.
We don’t know if Jackson will maintain such a competitive position against a longtime incumbent. He doesn’t have Platner’s charisma, and his weaknesses are about to be tested. But the buzz that Platner generated is lingering around this race, and Maine is considered a must-win if Democrats are to win back the Senate. Jackson has a decent combination of qualities going for him, as a politician with experience and trust across the state and with a vision that will not betray the many Mainers who were enthralled with Platner before his fall from grace.
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