BANGOR, Maine – With just over 100 days to go until the midterm elections, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson officially clinched the Democratic nomination for Senate at a party convention here Saturday, setting up a marquee fall matchup against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Jackson will replace Graham Platner, who withdrew as the nominee just over two weeks ago after an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies.
“This process came together faster than any of us expected,” Jackson said in his victory speech before the gathered delegates and party officials at the Cross Insurance Center. “But this is important. The movement represented in this room did not just begin two weeks ago.”
Delegates picked Jackson over pharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier by a vote of 566-5 during a roughly two-and-a-half hour party convention that also served as a fall campaign kickoff for the state’s Democratic faithful.
“Power is never just given to working people. We have to band together and take it,” Jackson said earlier Saturday during his nominating address. “When the people in power refuse to listen, well, you have to organize. You have to stand together in solidarity together.”
