(The Center Square) — Troy Jackson has enough support to win the Democratic Party’s nomination in the U.S. Senate race, after picking up a majority of delegates ahead of next weekend’s special convention.
Jackson, a former state Senate President, said his campaign has secured at least 480 Democratic delegates in his bid to replace disgraced Senate candidate Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race two weeks ago amid allegations of sexual assault. To win the nomination, Jackson needed to lock down at least 300 delegations before the party’s July 25 special convention.
“This movement has always been about working people having the opportunity, showing up, and fighting for what they deserve,” Jackson, 58, a fifth-generation Allagash logger, said in remarks Sunday. “I’m running for every worker who has ever been told to keep their head down, accept less, and be grateful for the scraps that they were given.”
Other Democrats who were seeking the nomination to challenge GOP Sen. Susan Collins dropped out after Jackson’s announcement over the weekend, calling for unity in the party ahead of the midterms.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who jumped into the Senate race last week, said Sunday that she was bowing out of the race and called on the party to rally to defeat Collins in the fall elections.
“Donald Trump’s attacks on our democracy are only accelerating, and the best way that I can serve our state and country at this moment is by focusing exclusively on my role as Secretary of State.
Another candidate, Dr. Nariv Shah — the state’s former Center for Disease Control director — dropped out of the race late Sunday, endorsing Jackson for the party’s nomination.
Shah said in a statement that he is exiting the Senate race “for exactly the same reason that led me to get in: we must defeat Susan Collins, and the Democratic Party must be unified to do it.”
Maine Beer Company owner Dan Kleban, who had collected enough signatures to qualify for the Senate ballot ahead of a Monday deadline, also dropped out saying there was “no viable path forward” for his campaign.
Maine Democrats are scrambling to come up with a replacement for Platner who won the party’s nomination in the June 9 primary but exited the race two weeks ago after a former girlfriend accused the oyster farmer, in interviews with Politico and CNN, of raping her while intoxicated during an incident in 2021, a claim that he denies. Platner has not yet endorsed a replacement
The party said it held meetings over the weekend to consider delegates for the special nominating convention with more than 17,279 casting ballots, or about 85% of those who had signed up to attend the meetings.
The Maine race is considered key to Democrats’ push to retake the U.S. Senate — where Republicans currently have a 53-45 majority.
