Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson appears to be sprinting far ahead of his rivals in the abbreviated race to replace now ex-candidate Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee in the high-stakes showdown to face off with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Delegates aligned with Jackson won the vast majority of the 319 slots that were up for grabs on Saturday as Maine’s 16 counties kicked off two days of delegate selection for next weekend’s nominating convention.
“We’re well on our way to getting the government that we deserve,” Jackson emphasized Saturday night in a video posted to social media, as he addressed supporters. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Jackson is now in a strong position to secure the nomination and face off in the midterm elections against Collins in what’s expected to be a combative and expensive ballot box battle that’s among a dozen nationwide which will determine if the Democrats can win back the Senate majority. The GOP currently holds the chamber 53-47.
MEET THE DEMOCRATS GUNNING TO REPLACE GRAHAM PLATNER
A fifth-generation logger and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, Jackson came in third place last month in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
On Saturday, in the race to replace Platner, Jackson-aligned delegates won more than 90% of the slots, including all 149 in Cumberland County, Maine’s most populous county and home to the state’s largest city, Portland.
Along with Platner, Jackson had the support of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as he ran for governor, and he is currently backed by ‘Our Revolution,’ the group born in 2016 out of Sanders’ first presidential campaign.
MAINE DEMOCRATS RALLY BEHIND PLATNER’S PLATFORM IN SPRINT TO REPLACE HIM
Jackson, similar to Platner, is running on a progressive and populist 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, and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats are increasingly divided on support for America’s longtime Middle East ally.
Nirav Shah, a former director the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019 to 2023 who later served as principal deputy director of the federal CDC during then-President Joe Biden’s administration, and who came in second in last month’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, secured only a handful of delegates on Saturday.
Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state, who came in fourth place in the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was even further back in the delegate hunt, as was Jordan Wood, a former congressional staffer for then-Rep. Katie Porter of California who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate as well as the Democratic nomination in the state’s 2nd Congressional District this cycle.
Maine’s eight remaining counties will select 181 delegates on Sunday. The 500 picked this weekend will join 101 delegates coming automatically from the Democratic State Committee. All 601 will vote for the Senate nominee at next Saturday’s convention in Bangor.
Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer who was backed by Sanders 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.
DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB
But even as Platner steamrolled the Democratic establishment and crushed the competition last month 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 Democrats in Maine 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.
While Jackson was among those who quickly called on Platner to end his bid in the wake of the rape allegation, he had previously campaigned alongside Platner and made the case that he was the best candidate to continue the fight for the progressive and populist agenda.
SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER
“This movement is always been bigger than one person. It’s about taking on a system rigged against working people, fighting for ‘Medicare-for-all,’ strong unions, higher wages, reproductive freedom, and an economy where billionaires and corporations finally pay their fair share,” Jackson said last week during a Our Revolution virtual town hall, as he pointed to Platner supporters.
At last week’s first debate among the replacement candidates, Jackson pointed to Platner and said, “That’s the thing that I think Graham did the best: talked about fighting against the health care industry and the prescription drug industry to make sure that people in this state and this country have affordable, quality health care.”
Platner ally Troy Jackson closing in on Democratic Senate nod in key race to face Collins 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-07-19 12:47:12 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
