Troy Jackson, former Maine Senate president and logger from Allagash, has officially replaced oyster farmer Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Maine after he won a majority of delegates at the state’s nominating convention July 25. Jackson received 566 votes, while the only other candidate remaining in the race, Saundra Pelletier, received five.
"Today, this becomes a general election campaign, and today we begin the work of defeating Susan Collins in November," Jackson said in his acceptance speech.
It’s the conclusion of a turbulent few weeks in Maine following Platner's withdrawal from the race after an accusation of sexual assault he denies. Now, Jackson must win over the more than 150,000 people who voted for Platner in the primary to fulfill Democrats' hopes of flipping the Senate, which is controlled 53-47 by Republicans.
Going into the weekend, Jackson was already the de facto nominee after his major competitors withdrew from the race on July 19 following a commanding performance at county nominating meetings. On July 25, he sealed his victory at the Maine Democratic Party’s Special Nominating Convention.
Jackson will face incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the race that could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. A recent University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll found Jackson narrowly leading Collins 49% to 46%. Collins has held her seat in Washington since 1997.
"They will say that a grassroots campaign, powered by working people, cannot defeat Susan Collins and every powerful interest standing behind her. They are wrong again, because we can," Jackson said at the July 25 convention.
Jackson was president of the Maine Senate from 2018 to 2024. He lost gubernatorial races in 2014 and 2026, losing this year’s primary to Hannah Pingree.
Jackson and Platner endorsed each other earlier this year, and Jackson’s gubernatorial run racked up support from labor leaders and Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna. Jackson was recently endorsed by Our Revolution, the grassroots political action organization born out of Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
In his acceptance speech, Jackson characterized himself as a populist "working-class fighter." His talking points included typical Democratic slams against President Donald Trump and of Jackson's connections to ordinary voters, as a man from the "north woods of Maine." He blasted his opponent for her record confirming Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe. v Wade, the decision that protected abortion, and for not voting to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
"I’m running to protect Social Security and Medicare. They are not going to touch that," Jackson said. "And give every worker the freedom to organize a union without intimidation or retaliation, and I will fight to restore abortion rights nationwide. I'm going to stand shoulder to shoulder with our LGBTQ Mainers and stand up to Donald Trump and ICE when they attack our workers, terrorize our neighbors, and threaten the freedoms generations of us fought to secure."
