Troy Jackson is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, taking on Susan Collins. Maine came late to our campaign and many of you asked to help — so here he is. Support Troy directly — donations to the candidate are the most effective way to make your opinion count!
Donate via ActBlue » Campaign website »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.
New York Magazine has a thorough recent article on the Jackson / Collins race: the Maine Dems pulled off the smoothest switch of candidates imaginable, and Susan Collins is now in the crosshairs of a serious scandal. This one isn't over by any means.
Jackson's first Senate TV ad has now hit the airwaves, introducing him to the wider electorate, and over 1,000 Mainers have signed up to help elect him. And Bernie Sanders is crossing over from Vermont to rally for Jackson in Maine.
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.
Follow the private-prison money: the two major private prison companies sent big-dollar donations to the Republicans in six of our seven Senate races — Maine included — as soon as Republicans voted to pay them exorbitantly for every day they hold a detainee. What other reason might there be to vote these graven bums out?
Latest Updates
- "We can't eat road salt…" says Jackson in the first debate against Susan Collins. The logger from the North Woods knows exactly who he's talking to — and it isn't Washington.
- After the second debate, Jackson reflects on the exchange — tariffs, ICE, and the contrast between himself and his opponent.
Support
- Campaign website
- Donate via ActBlue
- Maine AFL-CIO
- 1,000+ Maine volunteers signed up at the MDP kickoff
