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Troy Jackson has effectively clinched the Democratic nomination for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat after his principal competitors withdrew from the race Sunday. Jackson-backed delegates captured the overwhelming majority of the 500 available slots during Saturday and Sunday delegate selection contests across Maine’s 16 counties, positioning him for formal nomination next weekend in Bangor.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, both announced their departures Sunday, clearing the path for Jackson. Shah, who came in second during Maine’s recent gubernatorial primary, endorsed Jackson before exiting. Additional candidates Jordan Wood and Dan Kleban also suspended their campaigns Sunday.
Jackson-aligned delegates won more than 90 percent of available slots, including all 149 delegates from Cumberland County, Maine’s most populous region. In total, more than 470 of 500 delegates selected this weekend backed Jackson. These delegates will join 101 automatic designees from the Democratic State Committee for the 601-member convention voting body.
The former Maine Senate President, a fifth-generation logger and former Republican who converted to the Democratic Party over two decades ago, now faces longtime GOP Senator Susan Collins in November’s midterm elections. Jackson ran on a progressive agenda mirroring that of his predecessor Graham Platner, who withdrew earlier this month following allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.
Jackson has championed Medicare-for-all, higher taxes on billionaires, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel. He previously finished third in Maine’s gubernatorial primary and has backing from progressive organizations including Our Revolution, the group born from Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
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