Maine’s newest Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate has fewer than 100 days to prove to voters that he is the right man for the job – and based on what we know, there’s a possibility he pulls it off.
Former state Sen. Troy Jackson was selected at a last-minute Democratic Party convention July 25. Jackson is replacing the disgraced Graham Platner
, who dropped out of the race after being accused of rape.Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from the northern part of the state, is as progressive as Platner, has political experience as the state’s former Senate president and has zeroed in on defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. In learning more about Jackson, I was surprised Maine Democrats didn’t urge him to run from the beginning.
Troy Jackson has baggage. He's still better for Maine.
Not only is Jackson a true working-class man, but he’s also a bona fide progressive. A member of the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, Jackson is calling for Medicare for all, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ending the war in Gaza.
Jackson has said that he would not support U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. He wants to get dark money out of politics and keep members of Congress from trading stock. He clearly has a vision of what the Democratic Party could be.
Despite his feelings toward left-leaning values, he wasn’t always a Democrat. He started his career by running for office as a Republican. He is on record as having once opposed abortion rights and gay marriage, although he now supports both of those things.
Jackson is also known to have a temper. Republicans tried to blast him for this, saying in a new ad that he once threw a water bottle at a female colleague. PolitiFact found this to be false – although Jackson did once throw a water bottle during a debate with another former state senator, multiple sources have said the bottle was not aimed at her.
At one point, he also ran an anonymous social media account dedicated to trolling Republicans (which isn’t necessarily morally wrong, even if it is immature).
To a certain kind of left-leaning voter, a past that isn’t bright blue would be disqualifying. I encourage Mainers to take Jackson’s political past into consideration but not count him out because of it.
Aside from the fact that many people (myself included) were once willing to overlook Platner’s glaring issues, I think it’s important for all of us to believe that people can change. Being able to switch sides and grow with time is what makes us human. There is a chance of Jackson turning on Democrats once he’s in the Senate, à la Pennsylvania’s Sen. John Fetterman, but I think it’s worth taking the risk to defeat Collins.
Why didn't Maine Democrats run Jackson in the first place?
Jackson isn’t a perfect candidate. I think that, as Democratic voters, we should be willing to support candidates who don’t always fit into our super rigid mold. What surprises me is that Democrats aren’t rushing to support him – or why they didn’t nominate him to run for the U.S. Senate in the first place.
Jackson is clearly a candidate with experience and progressive values. He has the background consultants liked in Platner but without nearly as much baggage. I’m unsure why he wasn’t the state’s top pick for senator to begin with. Sure, he doesn’t have the charisma of Platner, but is that really what the Democrats want to stake their claim on?
The new Senate candidate ran for governor this past cycle and finished third in the primary. It appears he has more momentum with his Senate campaign, but time will tell. He will have to take on Collins’ massive campaign war chest and fight to have himself seen as anything but the “Platner replacement.”
Time is also an enemy of Jackson’s campaign – he has very few days to make the case that he’s the best one for the job, and a better fit to represent the state than Collins. I fear that this could easily go the way of Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, where her messaging was constrained by the fact that she was racing against the clock.
I think Jackson is a solid pick for Maine – and I’m cautiously optimistic about his chances. After being burned by Platner, I hope that the state’s residents give the Democrat a chance. The country is counting on them.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Troy Jackson was the right candidate for Maine all along | Opinion
