(The Center Square) — Democrat Troy Jackson will face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the midterm elections after securing the party’s nomination over the weekend.
Jackson, an Allagash logger and former state Senate President, was chosen by the party Saturday to replace disgraced Senate candidate Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race two weeks ago amid allegations of sexual assault. More than 500 party delegates voted for Jackson at the hastily organized nomination.
“This is the absolute honor of my life,” Jackson said in his acceptance speech. “If you’ve ever been ignored, underestimated, pushed around or told that you have to wait your turn while the rich cut the line, I’m asking you to stand with us in this campaign.”
Jackson ripped into Collins during his remarks, describing her as a “Washington insider” who is out of touch with average Mainers’ concerns.
“For 30 years, she’s told us that she’s ‘concerned’. But look, concern is not courage,” Jackson said. “What she says in Maine does not erase what she does down in Washington.”
Collins, a moderate GOP senator who has been politically untouchable for the past three decades, pushed back on Jackson’s remarks and suggested his support was weak.
“A 24-year Augusta insider was appointed to run for the Senate by fewer than three-tenths of one percent of its primary voters,” a Collins campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “Troy came in third in the Democratic primary for governor. Now he will run for Senate as the third choice of his party insiders.”
Maine Democrats were 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 of raping her while intoxicated during an incident in 2021. Platner has denied the claims.
The Maine Senate race is considered a must-win contest for the Democratic party as it pushes to retake the U.S. Senate — where Republicans currently have a 53-45 majority.
Collins is the only Republican senator running for reelection this year in a Democratic-led state, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential elections.
A recent poll by the University of New Hampshire showed Jackson with a slight edge over Collins, though within the margin of error.
But Republicans were quick to link Jackson’s Senate bid to Platner’s scandal-plagued candidacy. Before Platner bowed out of the race, he campaigned with Jackson and shares many of his progressive views on taxing the wealthy and pushing for universal healthcare.
“Troy Jackson is Graham Platner 2.0,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters posted on social media. “He was coronated as the Democrats’ handpicked candidate behind closed doors without a single vote cast. He is a dangerous far-left socialist who is wrong for Maine — and in November he will lose.”
