Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson appears on track to clinch the Democratic nomination for Senate after his top competitors made weekend exits from the race.
Jackson had the support of a vast majority of delegates who were elected across the state’s counties over the weekend to serve at a convention Saturday to pick a replacement for Graham Platner, a progressive who won the nomination in a June primary but ended his campaign earlier this month in the face of a sexual assault allegation.
“We’re well on our way to getting the government that we f—ing deserve,” Jackson said in a video of him speaking to supporters posted to social media Saturday.
A logger from Allagash in northern Maine, Jackson ran for governor this year, placing third in the ranked-choice Democratic primary. He had campaigned alongside Platner and was backed by the progressive group Our Revolution and California Rep. Ro Khanna, as well as several labor groups.
Like Platner, Jackson has centered his campaign on working-class issues. He has called for “Medicare for All” and dismantling the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and has pledged not to vote for sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to aid Israel’s military.
