Politics
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Troy Jackson’s leadership of the Maine Senate was sometimes marked by a fierce temper and angry outbursts.
Jackson’s brusque leadership style during his six years as the Maine Senate’s top Democrat is resurfacing as he seems poised to become his party’s replacement for Graham Platner during this November’s U.S. Senate race.
The former Allagash logger even once threw a plastic water bottle during a heated argument over a bill to rein in prescription drug prices, multiple sources told the Washington Post and CNN.
His campaign acknowledged the outbursts, calling them moments when “his frustration got the better of him,” while disputing some details. Yet, a campaign adviser told the Post that Jackson took accountability and apologized.
After the 2021 water bottle incident, Jackson apologized to his caucus the next day and then again apologized for his outbursts during a speech on the Maine Senate floor, according to the Post.
When asked by The New York Times about the episode, Jackson said he never should have thrown the water bottle.
“Do I wish I’ve never yelled or anything like that? Sure,” he said.
Charlotte Warren, a former Democratic lawmaker from Hallowell, who once remarked that straight white men are “too emotional” to be involved in politics after a heated argument with Jackson, told the Post that she supports his U.S. Senate bid
“Is this guy going to fight for us? Yes, he is,” she told the newspaper.
Another notable outburst happened during a 2024 meeting with then-House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross over a proposed red-flag law in response to the mass shooting in Lewiston the previous year.
The argument became so heated that Talbot Ross kicked Jackson out of her office, according to the Post.
Those who talked with CNN said they are speaking up about Jackson’s temper because they want him to address the anger issues and to realize not every problem needs a “chainsaw” or “ax” to solve. They noted there’s a sharp distinction between the behavior of Jackson and Platner, whose U.S. Senate campaign sank barely a month after the June primaries when an ex-girlfriend accused the Sullivan oyster farmer of raping her.
Others told CNN that Jackson’s approach sometimes just got things across the finish line.
“If everyone is happy with you all the time, you’re not doing your job in politics … He doesn’t run things like he’s coddling in kindergarten,” Jennifer DeChant, a former Democratic lawmaker from Bath, told CNN.
During the weekend county nomination meetings, Jackson flexed his organizing muscle to secure pledges from more than 450 of the 500 delegates nominated for this Saturday’s unprecedented party convention in Bangor, where 601 delegates will pick Platner’s replacement.
Already Jackson’s biggest rivals, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah, Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban and former 2nd Congressional District candidate Jordan Wood, have bowed out of the race.
Party members lining up behind Jackson see him as a natural heir to Platner, whose outsider campaign and working-class-style politics ignited the Democratic base. Jackson has a track record of winning races in the St. John Valley, a former Democratic stronghold that’s now deep red, and a history of fighting for pro-labor policies.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. The Republican has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, who has been ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Republican President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.