Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson on Tuesday said the progressive groundswell in this year’s race against Sen. Susan Collins is bigger than he’s seen before in Maine.
Speaking on MS Now’s “Morning Joe,” the former Maine Senate president from Allagash was asked about capturing the energy that elevated Graham Platner before a rape accusation from a former girlfriend forced him to cede the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
Jackson, who ran unsuccessfully for his party’s gubernatorial nomination this year and was a close ally of Platner during their respective campaigns, said the progressive movement was always bigger than the candidate at the center of it.
“When I worked for Bernie (Sanders) in 2016, that was the most incredible campaign that I’ve ever been around. This is way bigger,” Jackson said. “People are coming out like crazy because they are upset. They know that this government is is not working for them, and finally, it’s gotten so bad that they’re actually coming out.”
Jackson was a major supporter of Sanders and cast his superdelegate vote for the progressive Democrat from Vermont at the Democratic National Convention in that race.
On Monday, Jackson was endorsed by former Vice President Kamala Harris, who compared his late entry to the U.S. Senate race to her short-notice replacement of President Joe Biden in 2024. Jackson said he believes the situation is different now.
“People in Maine are fed up,” he said. “I mean, they got health care that’s gone out of control. We’re losing hospitals, losing birthing centers. You know, the economy is awful, tariffs and things like that. People in the state are ready for a change.”
Jackson talked about getting elected to the Maine Legislature when Trump was on the ballot, and seeing that some of his own supporters also backed Trump.
“I think, you know, people wanted something — people to stand up for them. They’ve always wanted that. That’s what I want. And you know Trump made an argument that he was going to do that, but now it’s buyer[’s] remorse across the state,” Jackson said.
Voters should expect a flood of ad spending in the race between Jackson and Collins, who is seeking a sixth term in the Senate. Collins has a head start on fundraising, but Democrats have been rallying behind Jackson with a spokesperson for the Democratic leadership-tied Senate Majority PAC reporting 30,000 new donors and $2 million raised since the convention on Saturday when Jackson was formally nominated.
