SANFORD, Maine — Troy Jackson has effectively secured the Democratic nomination in the crucial Maine Senate race, winning the support of a majority of the state delegates who will officially nominate a candidate next weekend.
While they are not legally bound to support him, nearly two-thirds of the 601 delegates have committed to voting for Jackson at that statewide convention. Jackson dominated the county-level meetings this weekend that selected those delegates, with two rivals falling far behind — and one of them, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, dropping out of the race partway through the process Sunday.
The party’s statewide convention in Bangor, Maine, next weekend will cap a tumultuous scramble to replace Graham Platner, who won the primary but dropped out this month after POLITICO reported that a woman he previously dated said he forced her to have sex with him. Platner denied the allegations.
A progressive fifth-generation logger from the far-northern corner of Allagash, Maine, Jackson has had a long career in organizing progressive activists and ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who had endorsed him in his gubernatorial race earlier this year.
