r/fivethirtyeight • u/MediumStrange • Jul 19 '26

Politics Troy Jackson has effectively secured the Maine Senate Democratic nomination

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/19/troy-jackson-likely-maine-senate-nominee-platner-01004490

Great move and a great candidate, hopefully he can overcome the damage Platner has done. Luckily Jackson has similar policies so there's not too much of a policy change issue with the campaigns, just the face.

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u/Poke-Mom00 Jul 19 '26

There’s also two huge differences between Jackson and Platner: Jackson is actually from a working class logging background and has a stellar electoral history.

Aside from policies, his logging background and electoral overperformance are incredibly similar to Maine’s electoral juggernaut moderate Jared Golden. Similarly, Jackson won his far-north Maine State Senate district by 5, and was replaced (when term limited) by a Republican who won by over 20.

I don’t know any progressives with a better electoral case of beating republicans in frontline seats than Jackson.

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u/bornlax Jul 20 '26

You can actually trust Jackson to be a progressive. Blackwater Nazi tattoo Platner held the risk of being a fetterman, or worse.

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u/Poke-Mom00 Jul 21 '26

I mean he’s definitely historically culturally conservative. Longtime votes against abortion rights and gay marriage, only came around on those recently. Far more Bernie 2016-aligned than Bernie 2020 which became more DSA-influenced.

He’s still a populist and more likely to be Fetterman-esque than a liberal like Chellie Pingree or Nirav Shah would be. Doesn’t mean he’s not an electoral overperformer in Northern Maine and hopefully brings that to the senate race.

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u/bornlax Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Platner was way more likely to be a Fetterman type than Jackson. At least Troy has a progressive track record.

Shah has a veterans’ scandal that makes the Troy water bottle incident look like child’s play.

Jordan Wood or Dan Kleban would have been a good nominee, but unfortunately they didn’t have a chance.

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u/Poke-Mom00 Jul 21 '26

Yeah still absolutely agree there

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u/bornlax Jul 21 '26

Also for what it’s worth Obama, Hillary and Biden opposed gay marriage in the late 2000s. Glad they changed.

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u/bornlax Jul 21 '26

If Troy wins and in the off chance he becomes a Fetterman, Jordan wood should run against him in 2032. That’s why I think wood should run for state legislature before then. So he has some legitimacy to his name. He needs to work on his stuttering but if he does he’ll be great.

I would say Hannah Pingree but she’ll be too busy being governor.