Maine Democrats pick Troy Jackson as their Senate nominee at an unusual party convention

By Patrick Svitek, Jeff Zeleny, CNN

Bangor, Maine (CNN) — Maine Democrats picked Troy Jackson as their new Senate nominee on Saturday, the culmination of a brief and unusual contest to replace Graham Platner after he left the battleground race amid scandal.

In a nearly unanimous vote, 566 delegates to a party convention in Bangor picked Jackson, the former state Senate president, as the nominee. He faced little opposition after filling most delegate slots with his suppporters and forcing his most serious opponents to drop out.

In a speech before the vote, Jackson turned his attention to the general election, accusing Republican Sen. Susan Collins of not doing enough to stand up to President Donald Trump on behalf of Mainers.

“For nearly 30 years, Collins has told Maine that she is concerned,” Jackson said. “Maine does not need another six years of concern. We need someone with courage. We need a fighter who remembers exactly who sent them to Washington, which is you!”

Democratic delegates from across Maine began arriving at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor a few hours after sunrise on Saturday, walking past a 31-foot-tall statue of legendary lumberjack Paul Bunyan.

The meeting had the feeling of an old-time political convention, with voters separated in rows of chairs that were organized by marquee signs for the state’s 16 counties. Delegates made their selections on printed ballots, which were taken into a room to be counted.

Larry Whittington, a delegate from Oxford, was wearing a green “Shah for Senate” T-shirt. He said it was a silent protest for the party coalescing so quickly around Jackson over his preferred candidate of Nirav Shah. He said he supported Jackson, but worried Collins has been the biggest beneficiary of the chaotic Democratic campaign.

“Personally, I feel that she’s better off because of this,” Whittington said. “She has one ad on TV every half hour and they’re all, ‘God she’s good.’”

But blue “Jackson” shirts were far more prevalent throughout the convention center, a sign that most Democrats are ready to move on with the race ahead and put the party drama behind them.

“I hope that we as a party can kind of carry on the momentum that Graham Platner had,” said delegate Sara Barwise. “I’m hoping that through the whole country, we can take back the whole Senate. I don’t think we can do it without Maine.”

Asked why she believes Collins has managed to outmaneuver Democratic candidates and win again and again, Barwise said: “I think she was a good senator for a long time, but she has moved too far to the right.”

“We can’t have her,” Barwise said. “I think this time is different. This time we really can defeat her.”

Organizers of the party convention had envisioned a robust field of candidates vying to win a majority of 601 delegates, 500 elected at the county level and 101 from the Democratic State Committee. Instead, Jackson, the former Maine Senate president who lost a bid for governor earlier this year, filled most delegate slots with his supporters and forced his most serious opponents to drop out. He has one opponent left: Saundra Pelletier, a political unknown.

“I don’t think anybody saw it coming,” said Dan Kleban, who was among the candidates to enter the field after Platner’s withdrawal only to step aside for Jackson. “I know there are people who might be a little bitter about the process or the way Troy played it, but we’re going to need someone who can put together that kind of sophisticated organization and Troy showed he could do that.”

Jackson’s nomination wraps up a tortuous journey by Maine Democrats to find a candidate for one of the most consequential races in this year’s battle for control of the US Senate.

In a 100-day sprint, Jackson will now try to do something that has eluded Democrats for 30 years: defeat the incumbent Collins, a fellow northern Maine native who has GOP-aligned groups ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to bolster her campaign.

As Democratic delegates from across Maine began arriving in Bangor for Saturday’s convention, some front yards were still dotted with Platner campaign signs, while a stack of “Troy Jackson for Governor” signs were still on display at a union hall.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” said Sarah Bigney McCabe, organizing director for the Maine AFL-CIO, who rushed to tuck away Platner signs when a reporter visited her office this week. “It’s a very compressed timeline to only have just over 100 days to win a competitive US Senate race.”

Platner, an oyster farmer, excited the state’s Democrats with his insurgent primary campaign, defeating Gov. Janet Mills along the way and overcoming a series of scandals over his personal behavior and online comments. But his bid ultimately collapsed after an allegation of rape that he has denied.

While Jackson was among those who called on Platner to drop out after the rape allegation, he heavily appealed to Platner’s former supporters in seeking to replace him. His platform includes passing the universal health care program known as Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and hiking taxes on billionaires.

“This movement has always been about working people having the opportunity, showing up and fighting for what they deserve,” Jackson told delegates during county nominating conventions last weekend. “I’m running for every worker who’s ever been told to keep their head down, accept less, and grateful for the scraps that they were given.”

Saturday’s proceedings were relatively short.

The convention started at 9 a.m. at the Cross Insurance Center. After delegates established quorum and adopted last-minute rules, they heard nominating and candidate speeches. Then they voted, which took just one round because a majority is required to win and there are only two candidates left.

Jackson’s only remaining opponent was Pelletier, the CEO of Evofem Biosciences, a women’s healthcare company. She has warned against a “coronation” in Bangor. She received five votes.

“No candidate can claim victory before the delegates have voted,” she said during a telephone town hall Thursday night. “I respect the delegates far too much to accept that the decision has already been made for them.”

Jackson, meanwhile, consolidated support from former opponents and Maine Democratic leaders despite reports in recent days detailing alleged angry outbursts when he was in the state Senate, including one incident where he threw a water bottle. His campaign has acknowledged that there have been “moments when he let his frustration get the better of him” but said he took responsibility for his conduct afterward.

Jackson has shifted his attention more to Collins in recent days, focusing on her support for Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. He has also criticized Collins’ votes to fund ICE in the wake of an agent shooting and killing a man earlier this month in the coastal town of Biddeford.

Collins has not extensively addressed Jackson ahead of the convention but made comments to reporters labeling him a “Bernie bro,” a sometimes derisive term for supporters of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders backed Jackson when he was running for governor but has stayed out of the Senate nominating process.

Crystale Lapham, a volunteer organizer for Platner’s campaign who helped form the Maine People Powered Movement, said she intends to work just as hard on behalf of Jackson to accomplish the ultimate goal of defeating Collins. Asked about the “Bernie bro” comment, she smiled.

“I welcome her being dismissive about this,” Lapham said. “I believe that we are more aligned than we are divided.”

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