What to know about Troy Jackson, Maine Democrats’ likely nominee for US Senate

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine Democrats who have been scrambling to tap a new nominee for a pivotal U.S. Senate race against Republican Susan Collins are expected to nominate Troy Jackson at a last-minute convention this weekend.

Jackson, a progressive Democrat, is a former president of the state’s Democratic-controlled Senate who has been a fixture in Maine politics for many years. He’s also a fifth-generation logger from a rural, heavily Republican northern part of the state.

Jackson is expected to secure the nomination Saturday at a special nominating convention in Bangor that Democrats are holding after the implosion of primary winner Graham Platner’s campaign. Jackson would then have less than four months to campaign about Collins, who has been in the Senate for 30 years.

Here are some things to know about Jackson:

He entered politics after leading a loggers’ blockade and was once a Republican

Jackson is well known in Maine politics, and his political affiliations and positions have evolved over the years. Most recently, he ran for the Democratic nomination for Maine governor this year but lost in the primary.

He made his first run for office more than 25 years ago as a Republican, and was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives as an independent in 2002. He then switched to the Democrats in 2004 and served a total of three terms in the House.

Jackson was later elected to the Maine Senate and rose to become the president of the chamber from 2018 to 2024.

He comes from a labor background and first entered politics after leading a weeklong loggers’ blockade along Maine’s border with Quebec in the late 1990s. The loggers were protesting the hiring of Canadian loggers who were coming into Maine and driving down pay rates.

The standoff ended with Jackson being escorted away by police. He went on to fight for better logger and wood hauler protections as a state lawmaker.

Jackson helped Bernie Sanders win the Maine caucus

Early in his political career, Jackson opposed abortion and same-sex marriage — positions he has since reversed. He is now one of the state’s leading progressives.

He led independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in the state in 2016 and helped Sanders win the state’s caucus. A decade later, Jackson remains an ally of Sanders.

Like Sanders, Jackson is a champion of “Medicare for All.” He has also called for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has come under heavy criticism in Maine recently following the killing of a driver in Biddeford.

Jackson is also a longtime supporter of unions and workers’ rights, and made that a central focus of his run for governor.

Collins and Jackson have known each other for years, and their fight is already on

Jackson and Collins are both from Aroostook County, the farthest north county in Maine which is known for its potato crop and sparse population. Aroostook, known to Mainers as “the County,” is far more Republican than most of Maine. Its voters have overwhelmingly supported Trump in the last three presidential elections.

With Jackson close to securing the nomination, he and Collins are already in campaign mode.

Collins told The Associated Press this week that she has witnessed Jackson’s evolution into what she called “a Bernie bro.” She noted Jackson’s “lengthy record” in politics and described his positions as “clearly” in line with socialism.

Collins has a significant fundraising advantage, as federal filings state that she has raised more than $16 million. Jackson’s campaign has said it has raised more than $1 million.

Jackson has begun his campaign by tying Collins to Trump and his unpopular war in Iran.

“When the stakes are at the absolute highest, too often she stood with Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and the other big corporations that already have all the power,” Jackson said at a recent campaign event.

Maine Republicans are also already setting their sights on Jackson.

“While promising a fair nomination process and rejecting any notion that Graham Platner would influence it, Maine Democrats still managed to pick the candidate Platner endorsed in the gubernatorial race, who is also a well-established Augusta insider,” said Jim Deyermond, chair of the Maine GOP.

Democrats are putting their hopes in Jackson after Platner’s fall

Democrats were thrown into crisis mode when Platner withdrew as their nominee earlier this month. Jackson had campaigned alongside Platner when he was running for the governor nomination.

Platner announced he would drop out of the race after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault, which he has denied.

Maine Democrats are implementing a never-before-used process of voting on a new nominee that will involve more than 600 Democratic delegates gathering in Bangor. The delegates were elected at county party meetings last weekend.

Jackson’s campaign says more than 480 of the 601 delegates who will be voting at Saturday’s convention are committed to supporting him.

Democrats have a narrow path to take back the Senate in November and it’s highly unlikely they can do it without a win in Maine. In addition, they need victories in competitive races in North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio, and they need to hang on to the seats they already have. That includes open Senate seats in Michigan and Minnesota, where Democratic incumbents are retiring.

___

Associated Press journalist Nathan Ellgren in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.