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Troy Jackson

Troy Jackson

Senate Maine U.S. Senate
Troy Jackson

This dossier is new, added because of the Maine candidate's late arrival in the campaign and the number of you who have asked how to help. Here is a comprehensive look at the Maine campaign as of July 30 — start there. And a local activist's introduction makes the case simply: "the right person at the right moment."

Troy Jackson is a logger from Maine's North Woods who spent years in the state legislature and served as President of the Maine Senate. He is about as far from a Washington résumé as a U.S. Senate candidate gets, which in this cycle is the point. The New York Times calls him a working-class hero — high praise from the paper of record, and accurate.

The Race

The Maine Democratic Party selected Troy Jackson as its nominee to run against Susan Collins, and the Maine AFL-CIO's detailed message of support describes how unions helped power that nomination — no surprise, for a logger.

Getting Jackson to the nomination took some doing. Party chair Charlie Dingman and his small army pulled off a spectacular recalibration-on-the-run when one candidate needed to be replaced by another — a neat trick if you also want the process to gain support rather than lose it. Here's a state party chair who really knows what he's about. Now, and going forward, Charlie's all about Troy Jackson — and winning, and seeing the back of Susan Very Concerned Collins.

Jackson's first Senate TV ad has now hit the airwaves, introducing him to the wider electorate.

The Opponent

Senator Susan Collins. The case against her could not be clearer: she has a record of voting against lower drug prices, against the interests of her own constituents. Maine doctors have criticized her healthcare voting record, too — as though you needed to know more about Senator Collins! Collins seems to think she can run toward the middle in Maine and toward Trump in Washington. But her Mainer MAGA crowd's own policy platform is about as extreme authoritarianism as any — think the Heritage Foundation, but it's the Maine Policy Institute, the Northwoods clone.

Latest Updates

Troy Jackson with supporters
Troy Jackson with supporters after winning the Democratic nomination