Maine Democratic Delegates Choose Troy Jackson as New Nominee to Face US Sen. Susan Collins
Hundreds of Democratic delegates gathered at a nominating convention in Bangor on Saturday and picked Troy Jackson, a former Maine Senate president, as the party's new U.S. Senate nominee, giving him 566 of 571 votes over his only opponent, biopharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier. Jackson replaces Graham Platner, who won the Democratic primary in June but withdrew from the race earlier this month after a former girlfriend accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021, an allegation Platner denies. Maine law required the state party to name a replacement by Monday, 99 days before the November 3 election, triggering a rare, compressed nominating process that ran less than three weeks from Platner's exit to Saturday's vote.
Jackson, 58, is a fifth-generation logger from Allagash in far northern Maine who spent 24 years in the state legislature, including six as Senate president, and built his political career around labor organizing. He will face Susan Collins, 73, a five-term incumbent and the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state President Trump lost in 2024. Decision Desk HQ and the Cook Political Report both rate the race a toss-up, and it is one of roughly a dozen contests nationally that will help decide which party controls the Senate.
The money gap is already stark. Collins has raised more than $16 million for her campaign, while Jackson's campaign says he has brought in just over $1 million since entering the race this month. The Senate Leadership Fund, the main Republican Senate super PAC, says it is committed to spending more than $42 million against Jackson. Both campaigns are now in a 101-day sprint to Election Day.
What supporters say:
Jackson's background as a logger and longtime labor organizer from northern Maine gives Democrats a chance to peel off rural and working-class voters who have long backed Collins, delegates at the convention argued.
Democratic leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand say Collins has grown vulnerable after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time and casting a deciding vote on the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
Bernie Sanders, who stayed out of the brief replacement contest, has praised Jackson as someone who understands the problems facing the working class in Maine and nationally.
What critics say:
Collins and her campaign have labeled Jackson's positions "clearly" aligned with socialism, warning his agenda would ultimately be paid for by middle and lower income workers rather than the wealthy.
The Collins campaign has criticized the selection itself, calling it a closed process run by party insiders that handed the nomination to Jackson with a small fraction of the turnout a normal primary would draw.
Republicans' main Senate super PAC has already committed over $42 million to campaign against Jackson, an early sign the race will be dominated by outside spending Jackson's campaign can't easily match.
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