BANGOR, Maine – The sprint to replace ex-candidate will come to an end on Saturday as Maine Democrats are expected to quickly elevate Troy Jackson as their party’s nominee in the high-stakes Senate showdown with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Jackson, a former state Senate president, is on a glide path to replace Platner at the Maine Democratic Party nominating convention in Bangor, after winning the vast majority of the voting delegates chosen last weekend by Democrats in the northern New England state’s 16 counties. And Jackson’s top rivals in the race to replace Platner backed him after dropping out of the race the past few days, leaving only one long-shot candidate for delegates to also consider at the convention.
The Senate race in Maine, where Collins is the only GOP incumbent running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in the 2024 election, is one of roughly a dozen across the country that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim majority or if the Democrats win back control of the chamber.
“Lets get to work to defeat Susan Collins and create the Maine that working people deserve,” Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from the remote northern tip of Maine and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, said in a social media post ahead of the convention.
While Jackson quickly raised over $1 million for his burgeoning Senate campaign and coalesced party support, there are some potential warning signs.
Following reports this past week digging into Jackson’s alleged temper and workplace conduct, reported claims of mortgage improprieties as well as other including his past strict anti-abortion stance, there are concerns by some in the party that following the Platner implosion, Democrats have landed another unvetted nominee.
“This is a bit of a rocket vetting process,” a Democratic strategist who works on Senate races, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News Digital. ” have seemingly made their choice and they’re just going to have to ride with it.”
A veteran Democratic consultant who also asked for anonymity said that “it’s very clear that Democrats should not be looking to Maine to flip the Senate”
“The good news is that we have upset opportunities in places like Texas, Iowa, and Alaska,” added the consultant, who works with centrist Democratic Senate candidates.
Platner, a military combat veteran and oyster farmer who was backed progressive champion and Independent Sen. of Vermont soon after he launched his bid last August, saw his campaign quickly catch fire. Two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was heavily recruited by longtime Democratic Senate leader Sen. Chuck Schumer to run for the Senate, suspended her campaign this spring after trailing Platner in fundraising and in the polls.
But even as Platner steamrolled the Democratic establishment and crushed the competition last month in Maine’s primary to capture the nomination, he had already been forced on defense in the wake of a slew of scandals.
Platner dropped out earlier this month, amid calls from top and across the country to immediately exit the race following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside.
Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, campaigned alongside Platner during the primary. And he quickly made the case that he was the best equipped candidate to grab the mantle of the progressive and populist movement that had backed Platner.
Similar to Platner, Jackson is running on a platform aimed at working-class voters. He backs raising taxes on billionaires, the universal healthcare system known as “Medicare-for-all,” abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats
