Troy Jackson: The policies, background and controversies of Maine’s new Democratic Senate nominee
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson selected as Democratic nominee United States Senate In Maine. After winning the Democratic primary, he will face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November Graham Plattner After exiting the competition sexual assault charges, which he denies.
Who is Troy Jackson?
Troy Jackson. Now 58 years old, he is the former president of the Maine Senate and a fifth-generation logger from rural northern Maine. He first ran for office as a Republican in 2000, seeking a seat in the Maine House of Representatives but lost. Two years later he ran and won as an independent. He switched to the Democratic Party in 2004, eventually becoming president of the Maine Senate and leaving the state House in 2024.
He placed third in this year’s race for governor democracy primary, but has the support of Our Revolution, a political organization founded by Graham Plattner and Bernie Sanders. When Plattner dropped out on July 10, several former gubernatorial candidates, including Jackson, stepped in to try to take his place. By July 19, most bids had dropped and Jackson emerged as the clear favorite.
“When people in power refuse to listen, you have to organize, you have to unite. You have to make them listen,” Jackson said in a speech at the last-minute nominating convention.
When asked by a reporter about being called a “Bernie bro,” Jackson said, “I really don’t care. I’m a lumberjack from northern Maine.”
Troy Jackson’s Policy
Jackson supported progressive positions such as Medicare for All. He also called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose presence in Maine has been hotly debated since an agent killed a driver there earlier this month.
He said he would attack Collins because he said she supported tax cuts for the wealthy and failed to protect health care. Both Jackson and Collins are from northern Maine, where traditional industries such as potato farming and timber harvesting are vital to the economy. The two are expected to argue in the coming months whether they are the right leaders to protect these industries, as well as lobster fishing and tourism.
Controversy surrounding Troy Jackson
Jackson replaces Graham Platner, who won the Democratic primary in June but dropped out of the race earlier this month amid sexual assault allegations, which Platner denied.
Republicans have linked Jackson to Plattner and said he was too extreme for Maine voters. Collins said earlier this week that she knew Jackson well and that his positions were “clearly” aligned with socialism, adding that “he’s a Bernie brother,” noting that Jackson led Bernie Sanders’ first presidential campaign in Maine.
“Troy Jackson will try to sell trillions of dollars’ worth of goods to Mainers, with rhetoric that makes it sound like everything will be free, but will actually be paid for by low- and moderate-income workers,” Collins campaign spokesman Sean Roderick said.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianchi also called Jackson “a Platner apologist, a radical Bernie bro, a walking red flag that showed all the warning signs early in Platner’s campaign.”
Jackson told reporters Saturday that he has not yet been in contact with Plattner and is launching a new campaign. Acknowledging the disappointment of Plattner’s supporters, he said: “I agree that there are some people who are still very frustrated and angry about what happened. I understand that. All I want to do is explain to them that his campaign is about these issues.”
Republicans also launched an ad campaign targeting Jackson, accusing him of a bad temper. The Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, said it has committed to spending more than $42 million to fight Jackson.
– With AP input
