Troy Jackson secures Democratic nomination for Maine Senate seat after chaotic primary race | Maine

In a race defined by scandal, dropouts and a frantic search for a new candidate, Maine Democrats reset their chaotic Senate primary on Saturday, with Troy Jackson officially securing the party’s nomination.

He took the stage at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to rapturous applause, a standing ovation and Noah Kahan’s Northern Attitude blaring from the speakers.

“This is the absolute honor of my life,” Jackson said. “If you’ve ever been ignored, underestimated, pushed around, or told you have to wait your turn as rich people cross the border, I’m asking you to stand with us in this campaign.”

Jackson’s victory marked a coronation for the progressive fifth-generation logger and former state Senate president, who faced no real opposition at the special convention after all major rivals stepped aside. Their exits paved the way for Jackson to replace oysterman and maritime veteran Graham Platner, who ended his campaign amid mounting controversy that culminated in a sexual assault allegation that he denies.

Platner dropped out after Politico reported that a woman he dated five years ago forced her to have sex despite repeated objections. His withdrawal triggered a major scramble within the Maine Democratic Party to devise a process to select a new candidate before July 27, the state’s general election ballot deadline to select his replacement.

“I know many of you poured your hearts out to build this movement before I even entered this race,” Jackson said Saturday before the official vote. “But the hope you built never belonged to anyone campaigning. It belongs to every Mainer who knows that health care is a human right; it belongs to every worker who fights for a union, a livable wage, and a dignified environment.”

Jackson, who finished third in the ranked gubernatorial primary, won the primary convention on Saturday with a vote of 566-5. But his victory was all but assured after the majority of Mainers who won last weekend’s county-level delegate elections pledged to support him ahead of the convention. The remaining delegates come from the party’s state committee.

On Sunday, when Jackson’s candidacy became inevitable, all of his top rivals withdrew from the hastily convened contest. They included former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah and Maine secretary of state Shenna Bellows, who is running for governor, as well as former congressional candidate Jordan Wood, who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Maine’s second district.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Charlie Dingman said the “easy solution” would be to let the state committee choose the new candidate. “Instead, we responded to a growing grassroots movement in our state to build power for ordinary working people,” he said.

But some Democratic voters said the convention process still did not represent the more than 200,000 voters who participated in the June primary to elect Platner.

Jackson will now face five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins in one of the most closely watched races of the midterm cycle; Democrats for a seat that is central to their audacious plan to retake the Senate. They need four trucks nationwide in November, and Maine is an integral part of that strategy. Collins is also the only Republican seeking re-election in the upper chamber in the state Kamala Harris won in 2024.

“For 30 years she’s told us she’s ‘concerned.’ But look, anxiety isn’t courage,” Jackson said as his supporters waved “Retire Susan” signs in the audience. “What he said in Maine does not erase what he did in Washington.”

University of New Hampshire preliminary poll shows Jackson a slight edge Through Collins, the moderate GOP senator who has been politically untouchable for the past three decades. And while Jackson is well-known in Maine political circles, his nascent campaign will need to ramp up quickly to match Collins’ fundraising lead and the momentum Platner has built after months of statewide travel, town halls and a groundswell strong enough to knock term-limited governor Janet Mills out of the Democratic primary in April.

Jackson, who began his political career as a Republican and once opposed abortion and gay marriage, is now staunchly progressive and is campaigning alongside Platner’s economic-populist platform, even gaining Platner’s endorsement during his own unsuccessful run for governor. Both points are likely to feature prominently in efforts by Collins and conservative groups to undermine her political acumen in the coming months.

Shortly after Platner dropped out of the race, Jackson tried to distance himself from the turmoil, telling MS Now that Platner reassured him there was “nothing in his past that I should be worried about.”

“He lied to me. And he lied to a lot of us,” Jackson said in an interview after Platner released an 11-minute video announcing his withdrawal. In Bangor on Saturday, the new candidate insisted that the chaos consuming the Democratic race was in the rearview mirror, without naming Platner.

“Today we turn the page. Today this becomes a general election campaign, and today we begin the work to defeat Susan Collins in November,” Jackson said.

Some delegates said Jackson’s proximity to Platner’s messages should not be off-putting. “It was never about the person, it was about the policies,” said Lydia Stone, 31, who lives in North Yarmouth and works for a company that sells forestry supplies. “I think it’s like Graham said, I think Troy Jackson is, too.”

Many in Bangor said it was crucial for Jackson to meet with voters as much as possible in the 101 days until the election.

“It’s going to be tough because it’s a short window of time, but I would say go as much as you can, especially to rural communities like where he’s from, and really be out there,” said Lisa Marin, 69, who lives in Jonesport and chairs the Washington state Democratic committee.

Marin added: “That’s one of the things that I thought was really helpful for Graham in the Platformer campaign; he was out there and really meeting people where they were. I know Troy wants to do that, and I think that’s what he needs to do to the best of his ability.”