Politics
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The Democratic gubernatorial primary has grown bitter with former Senate President Troy Jackson and former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah condemning outside ads and alleging underhanded tactics days before the Tuesday election.
After the Brooklyn-based Working Families Party, which backed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, announced an advertising push last week targeting Shah’s record and funding, a pro-Shah group that has spent far more released an ad Wednesday critical of Jackson’s anti-abortion votes early in his career representing the socially conservative St. John Valley.
The jabs between the campaigns come after a union-sponsored poll and a University of New Hampshire survey suggested Jackson was within striking distance of Shah. Shah has led primary polls for months, while Jackson has tried to draft on the success of insurgent U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner to stage a come-from-behind victory.
“Dr. Shah and his shady super PAC are getting nervous,” said Jackson on X in advance of a Portland event Thursday responding to the ad from a Maine offshoot of 314 Action.
While all the five candidates have gotten along in public appearances and debates, signs of division emerged last month. Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree recently formed a progressive ranked-choice alliance that could serve to blunt Shah.
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Shah has said he’s aligned with his opponents on many issues but that he’s more results-oriented. Former energy executive Angus King III, the son of the state’s junior U.S. senator and a centrist somewhat aligned with Shah, placed second in a recent Pan Atlantic Research poll but trailed all opponents with 7% support in the UNH survey.
The aligned trio jointly criticized Shah over a previous 314 Action ad campaign partly funded by Education Reform Now Advocacy Inc., a nonprofit group that advocates for charter schools and school choice. Shah has underscored his opposition to voucher programs, a no-go issue for teacher unions and other key parts of the Democratic base.
314 Action Fund has spent $768,000 in the race so far, according to AdImpact data. The latest ad targeted Jackson’s votes on abortion earlier in his career representing the socially conservative St. John Valley. But he has voted with his party on the issue since then and said he was proud of his top score from the political arm of Planned Parenthood.
Last week, Jackson said he’d vote for Shah if he were the Democratic nominee. On Wednesday, he said Shah represents “the same old rigged game that makes the rich and well-connected richer on the backs of working Mainers who actually make this state run.” Shah issued a Thursday statement pushing back against any negativity.
“I strongly condemn all negative campaigning in this race, including the negative ad running against Troy Jackson,” he said. “I hope Troy Jackson, Hannah Pingree, and Shenna Bellows also condemn all negative, dark-money [super PAC] attack ads. Maine deserves better.”
Jackson’s and Bellows’ campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mary-Erin Casale, a spokesperson for Pingree, said, “negative campaigns have no place in Maine politics and Hannah believes voters will make that loud and clear on Election Day.”
Shah’s campaign then said it would hold a news conference in Freeport Thursday afternoon “condemning last-minute shady campaign tactics.”
That announcement came shortly after a brief press call featuring former Maine Attorney General Mike Carpenter and Illinois state Sen. Cristina Castro, criticizing Shah’s leadership as Illinois health chief during a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a veterans’ home. The issue was under the spotlight in the recent ad from the Working Families Party.
“[Shah] sort of dismissed it as a communications problem,” Carpenter said. “It was a lot more than that.”
Shah moved to Maine to lead the Center for Disease Control and Prevention job in 2019 after both of Illinois’ U.S. senators called for his resignation as public health chief under a Republican governor. He did not make the outbreak public or notify families for six days.
Shah’s campaign said Thursday that “smears, negative campaigning and political games will not distract from the urgent challenges facing Maine families.” During an event with supporters and volunteers in Bangor Monday, Shah stood by the way his team followed federal guidelines but acknowledged communication problems, as he did in a debate last month.
“Any executive worth their salt has made errors, and then, hopefully has learned from them,” he said.