Maine Democrats officially have a new U.S. Senate nominee.
Troy Jackson, a veteran state politician and logger, secured the nomination Saturday at the party’s state convention which was held weeks after the Democratic nominee Graham Platner bowed out due to mounting scandals.
Jackson, who secured 566 votes, defeated the only other candidate in the race, Sandra Pelletier, who received only five votes.
Taking the stage shortly after securing the nomination, Jackson said it was one of the “absolute honors” of his life to be named the Democratic nominee.
“So, I want you to hear this directly from me. There is a place in this campaign for all of you. There is work for you in this movement, and I will spend every day now through November earning that trust because today we turn the page,” he said.
Jackson took aim at his opponent, incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins, and the Republican Party for the pain Americans feel economically right now.
He said he is running on protecting Social Security and Medicare, protecting abortion access, standing with the LGBTQ community and countering President Donald Trump’s policies.
“Susan Collins keeps telling us everything is just fine, and they act like you know we’re idiots,” he said. “You know we all have eyes; we can see what’s happening. We can see our paychecks and the bills that we have, and we know that we are getting screwed, and we also know who’s to blame.”
“We cannot afford six more years of the same,” Jackson said later on in his acceptance speech.
Jackson’s solidification as the state’s Democratic nominee comes after Platner withdrew from the race earlier this month following allegations of sexual assault by a former girlfriend, and a series of other controversies that have marred his campaign.
Platner has denied the sexual assault allegation.
At the start of the convention, Maine Democratic Party chair Charlie Dingman reflected on the moment that the state party found itself in and said he was proud of the work done to make the nominating process as transparent and representative as possible.
“The easy solution would have been to task a party committee with making that choice. Instead, instead, we responded to the growing grassroots movement in our state to build power for ordinary working people,” he said.
Jackson will now officially take on Collins for control of Maine’s Senate seat in November, a seat critical to Democrats’ chances to regain control of the Senate.
But both candidates face their own challenges in their quest to win in November.
Although Collins has faced challengers in the past, this time she’s running in a cycle where voters have soured on Trump’s handling of the economy and the war in Iran, and she’s running in a state that was won by former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 by about 7 percentage points.
Jackson will have to build up his campaign and continue the momentum that was built around Platner with 101 days to go before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. He lost in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary in June.
The nominee has also faced scrutiny for his past positions, as he always didn’t support or vote for progressive issues.
When Jackson initially ran for public office in 2000, he did so as a Republican. Even after becoming a Democrat in 2004, he voted against same-sex marriage being legalized in 2009 and was against abortion rights when he was in the Maine State Senate.
Jackson has said since regretted his vote against same-sex marriage and has advocated for abortion access for years.
