Maine Democrats have all-but-formally locked in Troy Jackson as their new pick to take on incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the November general election.
In public centers and online, Democrats across the state met to cast ballots to quickly replace former nominee Graham Platner. He dropped out of the race after allegations of sexual assault were reported, though he has denied the allegations.
Because Platner exited before July 13, Democrats had time to replace him on the ballot, as the final deadline to name a replacement is not until July 27. Maine has no guidelines for how a replacement candidate is chosen, according to the secretary of state, only that the individual must be a “qualified person.”
It’s a high-stakes decision—Collins stands as the sole Republican member of Congress from a New England state, as well as the only Republican on the ballot in 2026 representing a state that Trump lost.
“The stakes are huge because the Democrats are counting on defeating Susan Collins in order to be able to take back the Senate,” David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University, told The Epoch Times.
After the first day of balloting on Saturday, it quickly became clear that support was consolidating around Jackson, a former president of the Maine state Senate, before Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and physician Nirav Shah, who previously served as a top public health official in the state, dropped out. In several county races, Jackson swept entire slates of delegates.
On Sunday, another rival, Jordan Wood, also announced that he was exiting the race and would back Jackson.
Though Jackson’s nomination is all but locked, he won’t formally become the party nominee until about 600 party delegates vote at the state party convention in Bangor on July 25.
“We have worked hard to create a fair process that is inclusive of varying viewpoints and diverse backgrounds of Democrats across the state of Maine, as we all come together in service of our ultimate goal: defeat Susan Collins and win this Senate seat,” the party said in a statement.
Jackson began his career in the logging industry, a point he’s made a driving force in his campaign.
“We’re not from the left, we’re not from the right—we’re from the bottom, and we’re rising,” Jackson said in a campaign speech shared on X.
Like Platner, Jackson represents the progressive wing of the party.
He also lists stances on key social issues, saying he would back a federal right to abortion, passage of LGBT “civil rights legislation,” and “dismantle and abolish ICE.”
Re-evaluating the U.S. relationship and financial ties with Israel was a focus in Platner’s campaign. Jackson’s platform reflects a similar position, criticizing Israel’s military operation in Gaza as “genocide” and calling for an end to U.S. monetary aid for the Israeli military.
He’s had close ties with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who endorsed him during his previous gubernatorial campaign in Maine.
The two men previously campaigned together across Maine as part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy Tour,” where they spoke in favor of affordable housing, universal healthcare, labor rights, and other progressive causes.
Platner had previously led Collins in recent polling.
That makes Collins’s seat a particularly critical target for Democrats this cycle.
While Republicans, who have 53 seats, are favored to maintain control of the Senate, Democrats say they hope that the environment may be politically favorable enough for their party to regain a majority. Any such takeover, however, would all but require that Democrats flip Collins’s seat.
