Troy Jackson has emerged as the apparent victor in Maine’s scramble to replace former Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner, winning more than three-quarters of the total delegates’ votes at recent nomination meetings.
Platner withdrew from the contentious Senate race on July 10 after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault, causing his financial and political backing to quickly dissipate.
Jackson, who spent two decades in the state legislature, has cultivated a reputation as a staunch progressive. His Senate campaign website highlights policies including Medicare for all, tax increases on billionaires, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, codifying a federal right to abortion, and cutting U.S. funding for Israel’s “genocide” — positions that closely resemble Platner’s primary platform.
Despite voting against a 2009 bill legalizing same-sex marriage, Jackson has since changed his views on the issue, calling his vote “something I regretted from the start.” In 2024, Jackson’s voting record received a 100% score from Equality Maine, a gay rights advocacy group.
Jackson also opposed abortion rights earlier in his career, earning a perfect score from the Maine Right to Life Committee in 2010. By 2023, he had co-sponsored a bill allowing late-term abortions under certain circumstances.
“It’s become very clear to me that abortion is health care, and I believe in health care for everyone,” Jackson told the New York Times.
Jackson’s background as a logger and purportedly as a union organizer has also made him appealing to the progressive left. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) endorsed Jackson even before Platner dropped out, stating: “[Troy Jackson] is someone who has spent his life standing up for these progressive values.” Sen. Bernie Sanders’ organization, Our Revolution, praised Jackson’s “commitment to workers, lower prices, and affordable housing,” which they said “best reflects the platform that won the primary.”
Earlier this year, Jackson ran for governor of Maine but finished third in the Democratic primary’s ranked-choice voting. Despite his defeat, he secured the endorsement of the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Jackson also frequently appeared alongside Platner on the campaign trail during their respective primary campaigns, sharing a stage at a “Fighting Oligarchy” event with Sanders over Memorial Day weekend.
In the aftermath of the sexual assault allegation, Jackson urged Platner to drop out, saying: “He’s just not going to win, and he’s going to leave us with another six years of income tax cuts for billionaires and no health insurance.”
Jackson’s nomination is expected to be finalized at the July 25 convention. He will face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that could determine control of the Senate. Jackson wrote: “In November, Mainers will defeat Susan Collins, and we will take back our Senate seat from the billionaires and corporations who think they own it.”
