The Debate Moment That Captures Democrats’ Worries About Troy Jackson

It should have been a layup. Instead, the question illustrated why some Democrats fear they are about to swap out Graham Platner with a candidate who's got a completely different set of problems. 

During last week’s debate among potential Platner replacements, the moderators asked the field to discuss the kind of oversight of the Trump Administration they would pursue if Democrats gained control of the Senate.

Former state Senate leader Troy Jackson didn’t seem to understand the assignment. “I actually come from the same area Susan Collins comes from,” Jackson began, referencing the GOP incumbent Senator he now seems poised to challenge in November. “I’ve been on the ballot with Donald Trump the last three elections. I’ve been on the ballot with Susan Collins. People in my area vote for me because they know that I stand up for working-class people. And I think, in this case, Collins has completely forgotten who she’s representing.”

He kept wandering before finding his way back to something closer to the topic at hand: oversight. “As far as something like this, prescription drugs. I mean, I live around the border. I see people in New Brunswick that are going with healthcare, they’re going with prescription drugs, the same drugs that we have, and nobody in D.C. is actually doing anything because the healthcare industry, big pharma, is buying them out and we can’t afford to buy them back.”

Other contenders on the stage gave far better answers, but Jackson is the one who is on the cusp of becoming the Democratic nominee in Maine, where the party has its most realistic shot at knocking off an incumbent Republican Senator. Collins is the only Republican incumbent on the ballot this fall hailing from a state Trump lost and after five terms in the Senate, she’s lost the support of many of Maine’s Democrats and independents. Senate Democrats had hoped to run Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her bid before Platner was forced from the race when an ex-girlfriend accused him of rape—an allegation he denies. A free-for-all to replace him quickly settled on Jackson, a former Republican and logger who ran for Governor earlier this year and came in third. 

Jackson shares Platner’s progressive ideology but none of his charisma. When Jackson and Platner appeared together during their primaries, it was clear who was the headliner. Like the oyster farmer he is set to replace at a state party convention on Saturday, Jackson is closer to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party than the Chuck Schumer one. (And, for the record, Jackson says he will not support Schumer’s continued leadership of the party in the Senate.) 

Democrats, though, are plenty skittish about Jackson. It’s one thing to run a state Senate. It’s another to live under the klieg lights of a marquee U.S. Senate campaign. Collins is a canny politician who won her last campaign by nine points. And she has a much further head start than Jackson, who will have almost no time to build a competent ground game. 

As a former Republican, Jackson also has a confusing policy record —past opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion, both positions he has since reversed—and little polish. His answer at last week’s debate on oversight was the most obvious example, but he concedes he is no smooth talker. 

"I know I'm not a polished speaker, and I don't pretend to be,” he told a local radio host in April. “I’m just an everyday person and I don’t put on airs like I’m some highfalutin person. I’m OK with that.”

Then there’s Jackson’s personality, which can be abrasive, according to former colleagues who report tantrums and outbursts involving thrown water bottles. When a campaign’s best defense is that he wasn’t throwing things at any one person, it’s a sign that the stories being spread are more than just axe-grinding. 

For its part, Jackson’s team is trying to put its best spin on his sudden return to the arena. His advisers seem to resort to a single word to describe his leadership style: “passionate.” 

As a practical matter, since jumping back into politics about two weeks ago, Jackson has raised more than $1 million—almost as much as he raised in his entire race for Governor. Of that, more than half has come since he swept a slate of delegates to the state party event this weekend.