SANFORD, Maine — Leaning against bleachers and watching York County Democrats fill into an auditorium to help pick the party’s new U.S. Senate nominee, Ethan Standel said Maine needs someone to act on anger with Washington.
The 31-year-old software engineer from Saco was pleasantly surprised by Thursday’s debate, where Maine’s former public health chief Nirav Shah impressed him by sounding genuinely “pissed off” by the Trump administration and Republican control on Capitol Hill.
But Standel wasn’t among the dozens of green-shirted Shah supporters Sunday morning, the last day of county caucuses before roughly 600 delegates make the final pick at an unprecedented nominating convention in Bangor next Saturday.
Instead he wore a sticker reading, “I’m here for Troy.”
That’s former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who won at least 456 of the 500 delegates awarded in this weekend’s county caucuses behind a relentless organizing push. Standel noted the candidate’s history of winning in the St. John Valley, an ancestral Democratic area that is now fully represented in the Legislature by Republicans.
“Troy has a history of winning in deep red districts,” he said. “I think that just makes him the most likely candidate to win [against Republican Sen. Susan Collins].”
Jackson was the most natural replacement for Graham Platner, a progressive who dropped out the race following a rape allegation earlier this month. Supporters say Jackson’s background as a labor leader and fighter in Augusta helped him sweep the delegate process in a must-win state for Democrats hoping to retake the Senate.
“I guess they got what they wanted,” Jackson said laughing in an interview, referring to many supporters who urged him to run for federal office last year.
The race was rapidly closing down on Sunday. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows withdrew Sunday morning, Shah, Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban and former 2nd Congressional District candidate Jordan Wood followed once voting ended in the evening.
When Platner’s campaign collapsed, many progressives initially expressed concern that the Maine Democrats would work in tandem with national party leaders to install an establishment replacement. As several candidates raced to organize new Senate campaigns, some Democrats have complained about how Jackson’s team and supporters lined up delegates, even though Bellows, Shah and Wood also released slates that heavily overlapped.
“We followed every rule,” Lori Poland, a postal worker and Jackson delegate from Windham, said in response to comments she’d seen on social media that new Senate candidates were trying to “steal” the election. “We just organized.”
The same organizing muscle that made Jackson’s slate so dominant left little room for Democrats who wanted to go into the last week of the nominating race with their options open. Bill Van Tuinen, a Madison resident who signed up as an uncommitted delegate candidate in Somerset County, said he wanted to weigh the field rather than commit early.
“I’ll listen and make up my mind” if chosen as a delegate, he said, adding he was looking for a candidate with a strong progressive agenda who’s capable of mounting a serious general election campaign.
But he didn’t win a delegate seat. Neither did Geraldine Sanchez of St. Albans, who said she got involved because it’s “mission critical” that Democrats take Collins’ Senate seat but predicted going in that she wouldn’t win a delegate election specifically because she was uncommitted to any candidate.
Jackson and his labor backers have been reaching out to party and county leaders and a network of supporters via phone, text, email, WhatsApp and social media starting as soon as it looked like Platner might bow out, said Jason Shedlock, the president of the Maine Building and Construction Trades Council that was also crucial to Platner’s rise.
“When labor groups get knocked down, they’re going to come back,” he said. “I might ride home with my Bluetooth on and talk to people.”
Jackson knows he needs help to oust the Republican stalwart, especially in a quicker-than-usual Senate race. He cited Collins’ support from conservative groups who have already invested tens of millions of dollars in ads. As he stumped with supporters in Sanford Sunday, he said working-class Mainers must organize to take power.
“You have to stand together, and sometimes … you have to make the people in charge so uncomfortable that they can’t ignore you anymore,” he said.
Joanne Twomey, a former state representative and former mayor of Biddeford, interrupted Jackson’s speech at one point when he thanked young supporters who struggle to afford a home in today’s economy, saying she wished she could retire.
In an interview just before the caucus, the 80-year-old noted she still works in healthcare, and that it’s Jackson’s work ethic that made her want to be a delegate for him.
“When session would get over, he would always stay and work,” she said. “Everybody rushed to get out of the chamber, he would always stay. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has a different perspective on really representing working people.”
BDN writer Annie Rupertus contributed to this report.