Troy Jackson: the Maine lumberjack Democrats believe can beat Susan Collins

Jackson, a prominent workers’ rights advocate and a leading progressive voice, replaces the scandal-plagued Graham Platner As cinemagoers flock to The Odyssey, Democrats in Maine are hoping that their long and perilous quest for a political hero ends in Troy. They have nominated lumberjack Troy Jackson this weekend as their candidate to challenge Susan Collins, a veteran Republican in the US Senate, after the implosion of the party’s original candidate left them scrambling for a replacement less than four months before the midterm elections. Jackson, a former president of the Democratic-controlled Maine senate, i secured the nomination at a special party convention in Bangor on Saturday. He inherits a race transformed by the abrupt withdrawal of the primary winner, Graham Platner, following allegations of sexual assault made by a former girlfriend, accusations he has denied. While Kamala Harris infamously had only 107 days to build a presidential campaign in 2024, Jackson would have even less time for a battle that could decide control of the 100-member Senate. The fifth-generation logger from Aroostook county in northern Maine combines an unusual political biography with an unapol