Maine Democrats pick Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner in Senate race against Susan Collins

Maine Democrats picked former state Senate President Troy Jackson on Saturday as their candidate for U.S. Senate, choosing him to replace Graham Platner in a November race that could determine which party controls the chamber.

Jackson, a logger from Allagash in far northern Maine, won the nomination at the state party's special convention in Bangor. He took 566 delegate votes, well ahead of his lone remaining rival, Saundra Pelletier, who got five.

He replaces Platner, an oyster farmer who won the June primary but left the race this month over an accusation, which he denies, that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021.

Jackson served as president of the Maine Senate for six years, stepping down in 2024, and earlier held a state House seat representing far northern Maine. He ran for governor this year, campaigning with Platner and backed by many progressives, but placed third in the June primary.

Jackson also has something Platner lacked: years in elected office. He repeatedly won a conservative, mostly rural district up against the Canadian border, a seat Republicans reclaimed once term limits pushed him out in 2024. His politics lean to the populist left, and he worked on both of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaigns.

Now Jackson faces a well-funded opponent and just 101 days until the election. Collins is seeking a sixth term after three decades in the Senate, a stretch in which no Democrat has managed to defeat her. She reported roughly $11 million in the bank in her most recent federal filing. Jackson's campaign said he had raised upward of $1 million since entering the race.

The general election fight began at once. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republican leadership, said Saturday it would spend at least $42 million against Jackson and released an ad calling him "like Graham Platner but worse."

The ad revisits recent reporting about Jackson's temperament, including an allegation, reported by CNN and The Washington Post, that he threw a water bottle during an argument with a female colleague. Jackson's campaign confirmed to CNN that the episode happened but said he did not throw it at anyone. The ad also points to a dispute over a 2019 home purchase, in which Jackson used a federally backed loan that required him to live in the house while he told state officials his residence was in Allagash. Republicans have said the arrangement amounted to mortgage fraud. Jackson was not charged, a state ethics complaint was not pursued, and he has said he did not read the loan paperwork closely.

Collins has largely brushed Jackson off. She recently dismissed him in an interview with CNN's Manu Raju at the Capitol, calling him "a Bernie bro," a reference to his support for Sanders.

National Democrats moved quickly to rally behind Jackson. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced him to a national audience in a post on X, describing him as "a fifth-generation logger who's ready to fight for working people and flip this seat."

Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, and Democrats view Maine as one of their better chances to gain a seat. The state voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. Voting ends Nov. 3.

Jackson cast the race as a test of nerve. "Maine does not need another six years of concern. We need someone with courage. We need a fighter," he said as he accepted the nomination. He closed with the populist refrain at the heart of his bid: "We're not from the left. We're not from the right. We're from the bottom, and we're rising."