Maine Democrats nominate Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner and take on Susan Collins
Washington Examiner · RC · trust 56/100
Maine Democrats on Friday nominated former state senator Troy Jackson to replace former Senate candidate Graham Platner on the ballot, launching a 101-day sprint for the party to build a coalition capable of ousting Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
Jackson easily clinched the nomination during a state convention in Bangor, where hundreds of Democratic delegates from Maine’s 16 counties cast their votes to pick the replacement for Platner, who was forced to suspend his campaign earlier this month due to a rape allegation . With a 566-5 vote from the delegates, Jackson nearly unanimously defeated lesser-known candidates David Costello and pharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier.
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“We’re not from the left. We’re not from the right. We’re from the bottom, and we’re rising,” Jackson said . “In November, we will defeat Susan Collins.”
Democrats will hope Jackson’s win will draw a line under an incredibly messy nomination process for the 2026 cycle. Platner’s candidacy was ultimately derailed by a series of controversies, from a Nazi tattoo to allegations of sexual assault from ex-girlfriend Jenny Racicot. The sexual assault allegations, which Platner denies, were the final straw and ultimately forced him from the race despite winning the Maine primary earlier this month.
Jackson, however, faces a steep task to unseat Collins, who has been a senator since 1997. On Wednesday, Jackson’s campaign announced it had raised more than $600,000 in roughly 72 hours for a total of more than $1 million since he launched his bid on July 8. But that pales in comparison to Collins’s war chest, which had $11 million as of June 30.
After Jackson’s Saturday win, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a statement arguing that Jackson is “well-positioned” to win the general election, having “harnessed grassroots energy in Maine.”
Republicans are already attempting to throw Jackson’s candidacy into question. Hours before he clinched the nomination, Maine state Rep. James White (R) suggested Jackson might not be legally eligible to run for office, since the “apparent justification for Mr. Jackson’s eligibility depends entirely on treating the June primary and November general election as separate elections.”
“The vacancy process exists to fill an unexpected vacancy, not to provide a second opportunity for a candidate who already sought and lost another office during the same election process,” White wrote in a letter to Maine’s secretary of state, referring to Jackson’s failed gubernatorial candidacy during the 2026 election cycle.
Jackson had been a close ally of Platner and campaigned for him before the former candidate suspended his campaign on July 8. In the wake of the sexual assault allegations, Jackson distanced himself from Platner , calling on him to drop out, and framing himself as the top contender to replace his former friend. At the time, Jackson said he did not want Platner’s endorsement.
Jackson has been in Maine politics for years and served as president of the state senate from 2018 to 2024. He served as Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) Maine political director, and the Vermont socialist backed his gubernatorial campaign. Collins has dismissed him as a “Bernie bro.”
Jackson was viewed as the frontrunner for the nomination from the moment Platner dropped out, which meant Saturday’s convention was in effect a coronation. Serious opponents, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah, dropped out of the race as it became clear it was Jackson’s to lose.
Jackson has sought to portray himself as the natural heir to pushing for Platner’s agenda, embracing his predecessor’s push for Medicare for All and his aggressive anti-Israel stance, including through accusing the Middle Eastern democracy of committing genocide in Gaza and pledging “never vote in favor of US taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel.”
A number of progressives back Jackson, from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), to Our Revolution , a group founded by the Vermont socialist.
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