Troy Jackson gains ground in Maine Senate race

Maine Democrats moved quickly to rally behind former state Senate President Troy Jackson after several rivals dropped out of the race to replace Graham Platner as the party’s nominee against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Jackson, a 58-year-old fifth-generation logger from northern Maine, emerged in a strong position after county-level nomination meetings over the weekend. Candidates on his preferred slate won a majority of the 601 delegate slots that will determine the nominee, CBS News reported. The Guardian, citing Politico, reported that more than two-thirds of the delegates have committed to voting for Jackson, though the commitments are not legally binding.

The exits began Sunday with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who said Democrats needed to unite quickly around the goal of defeating Collins in November.

“Democrats don’t have a day to waste in unifying around that shared goal,” Bellows said in a statement.

Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also withdrew and endorsed Jackson. Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company, and Jordan Wood, a progressive who previously worked as chief of staff to former Rep. Katie Porter of California, followed and also backed Jackson. Kleban said it had “become clear from the county nominating meetings that we lack a path forward.”

Jackson celebrated the delegate results in a Facebook video, telling organizers: “I’ve been getting text messages all day about what a great job I did, and I didn’t do a god damn thing. All of you just smoked it.”

Maine Democrats are trying to recover after Platner suspended his campaign earlier this month following a series of scandals, including an allegation of sexual assault by a woman. Platner denies the allegation. After it surfaced, Jackson called on him to leave the race, saying on MSNOW: “He lied to me, he lied to a lot of us.”

The party must select a new nominee under Maine law by July 27. CBS News reported that Democrats planned a June 25 nominating convention, while The Guardian reported that the statewide convention would meet July 25 in Bangor.

Jackson has been active in Maine politics since 2002, when he entered the state House of Representatives. He later served in the state Senate and was Senate president from 2018 to 2024, leaving office because of term limits, according to The Guardian. Before entering the Senate contest, he ran for governor and placed third in the Democratic primary earlier this year.

Jackson has described himself as a “pickup truck progressive” and has long ties to independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, after working on Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders and Platner supported Jackson’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, though Platner has not endorsed anyone in the race to replace him on the Senate ballot.

During a gubernatorial debate in May, Jackson said: “Up until today, I’ve been the only candidate who actually came out and supported Graham Platner. I came out and supported Graham because I wanted somebody to change the system in D.C.”

Jackson’s positions align with Sanders and other progressives. He supports Medicare for All and a tax on billionaires, has called for abolishing ICE, and has said Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that no additional U.S. money should support Israel’s military.

Democrats view Maine as a crucial Senate contest. Collins is the only Senate Republican seeking reelection in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, CBS News reported. But Collins has won repeated reelection campaigns during nearly three decades in the Senate, and Democrats face a compressed timeline after Platner’s departure.

Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats. Democrats would need to flip four seats while defending others to win control of the chamber, making Maine a key part of their strategy.