Troy Jackson, a progressive lumberjack and former state lawmaker, secured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maine on Saturday, but he now faces a compressed timeline of fewer than 100 days to build a statewide coalition and unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
Jackson won nearly all delegates at a hastily organized special convention in Bangor, following the abrupt withdrawal of Graham Platner, who dropped out amid accusations of rape, which he denies, along with a series of scandals including problematic online posts, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, and allegations of abusive behavior in past relationships.
“The movement represented in this room did not just begin two weeks ago,” Jackson told delegates, acknowledging the need to earn trust. “I’ve always known that your trust has to be earned.”
Consolidating Support in a Short Window
Jackson, who previously ran an unsuccessful bid for governor this year, must now replicate the momentum Platner had generated against Collins, a moderate Republican who has survived every challenger during her three decades in the Senate. Maine is pivotal to Democrats’ efforts to pick up four seats to regain control of the upper chamber in the midterms.
Some party insiders worry about the steep climb. “He won an interparty fight – which is nothing like the fight he’s got ahead of him,” said Lynn Bromley, a former Democratic state senator. “He’s going to have to build a statewide coalition. That’s a whole different process.” She added, “I would say Jackson has momentum, but I would also say momentum isn’t the same thing as trust.”
Key Voters: Ticket-Splitters and Unenrolled
Jackson’s path to victory hinges on winning over 2020 ticket-splitters – voters who backed Collins for Senate but Joe Biden for president. In that election, Collins won by nine points over Democrat Sara Gideon, despite trailing in most public polls. A Guardian review shows that more municipalities voted for both Biden and Collins than for a straight Democratic ticket that year.
Wendy Tooth, a 58-year-old physiotherapist in Manchester and an unenrolled voter, said she has been “disappointed” with Collins since 2020, particularly since Donald Trump’s re-election. “She doesn’t seem as centrist as she used to be. She seems to go along with a lot of Trump’s policies, which I don’t agree with,” Tooth said. She wants to see Jackson “work across party lines” and Collins take firmer positions on the war in Iran and federal immigration crackdowns.
Democrat Alan Blake, 74, of Thomaston, said the party must rally behind Jackson despite the chaos. “We’re just going to carry Jackson in there because we absolutely need the policies he stands for,” Blake said. “It’s not drastic to say we’re trying to save democracy here.”
Ellie Gunnoe, 39, a psychiatric nurse practitioner in New Gloucester, said Jackson’s background as a fifth-generation logger from Aroostook County can resonate as a “working-class Mainer.” She cited the fatal shooting of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by an ICE agent in Biddeford as a key motivator. “My husband is Mexican American and is the exact same age and brown, and so it’s just been feeling increasingly unsafe for people like us,” she added.
Moderate Democrats and the Mills Factor
Some moderate Democrats who voted for Janet Mills in the June primary – even after she suspended her campaign – are also in play. Brenda Garrand, 69, of Rockland, plans to vote for Jackson despite not considering herself a progressive. “I don’t think he’s the best and brightest, I don’t think he is Senate material,” she said. “But we’ve got to have a Senate majority.”
Mills told a local ABC affiliate that Collins is “vulnerable” and “should be defeated,” but she did not endorse Jackson directly.
Jackson’s campaign could benefit from anti-Trump sentiment. According to a recent New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll, only 39% of likely Maine voters approved of the president’s job performance since he returned to the White House.
“Susan Collins keeps telling us everything is just fine. And you know they act like we’re idiots. We know it isn’t. We all have eyes,” Jackson said in Bangor. He highlighted Collins’ votes to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and advance the president’s $70bn bill for federal immigration enforcement. “Who has she served? She has served Donald Trump. She voted with them 96% of the time.”
Collins Campaigns Against a ‘Bernie Bro’
Collins has sought to brand Jackson as a “Bernie bro,” pointing to his long relationship with Bernie Sanders and his role leading Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign in Maine. Ronald Schmidt, a politics professor at the University of Southern Maine, said that attack puts the onus on Jackson to “flip that playbook” and “link her to Trump.”
But local Republicans argue Jackson lacks Platner’s outsider appeal. “He is Maine’s establishment,” said Chuck Ellis, chair of the Cumberland county GOP. “All the appeal of Platner being anti-establishment is lost when you replace him with a career politician.”
Attack Ads and Financial Hurdles
Conservative PACs have already begun airing ads painting Jackson as an extension of Platner, using footage of their mutual endorsements. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) even pushed out an AI video of Platner morphing into Jackson with the caption: “No tattoo, same crazy.” James Blair, a former White House adviser, wrote that Jackson carried “all the baggage” of Platner “without the ‘rizz.” The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), which has pledged more than $40m to the race, is highlighting Platner’s scandals and reporting about Jackson’s alleged fiery temper in the state legislature. “Jackson is like Graham Platner but worse,” a voiceover says.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) cast Jackson’s nomination as illegitimate, drawing a parallel to the 2024 Democratic convention. “This coronation is proof that Democrats are willing to shove socialism down the throats of Maine voters,” said spokesperson Kristen Cianci.
Collins told reporters in Casco that Jackson’s economic populism – including Medicare for All and taxing the ultra-wealthy – is untenable. “It is disturbing for me to hear Troy say that everything should be free, when in fact it’s going to be middle- and low-income taxpayers who are going to be paying the bill,” she said.
Jackson’s campaign reports $2m raised since winning the nomination, on top of $1m raised since he entered the race in early July, but Collins has more than $11m cash on hand, according to her latest disclosures. The financial gap is significant.
“She’s an intimidating political presence, and I think people underestimate that,” said Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist.
Collins’ Record of Survival
Collins has underscored the millions in federal funding she’s steered to Maine as chair of the Senate appropriations committee. Her campaign spokesperson, Shawn McRoderick, said the senator looks forward to “waging a vigorous, issues-oriented campaign that will distinguish her record of accomplishment against Troy’s angry soundbites.”
In a small state, tangible results matter. “I was speaking to a town official from upstate who was able to get fire department money to improve the local volunteer fire department with the help of Collins’ office,” Schmidt recalled. “People who’ve directly been helped by her staff probably will vote for her again in this election, regardless of their party ID.”
Despite antipathy toward the gerontocracy, Collins’ seniority may be her strongest asset. “With Collins you actually have serious influence that can successfully make progress at cooling off the Trump administration when she feels like that’s necessary and that’s appropriate,” said Ellis. “To lose that, you would have to be able to say that we have a substantial upgrade that’s going to do so much better for us.”
