Democrats Reset the Maine Senate Race. Now Comes the Tricky Part.
Reid J. Epstein and Jess Bidgood The New York Times
Troy Jackson speaks to Maine Democrats during the party’s nominating convention to select a Senate nominee to replace Graham Platner in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. (photo: Sophie Park/The New York Times)
Troy Jackson is replacing Graham Platner, but Republicans are seeking to tie them together as a remade race kicks off with high stakes.
Now comes the tricky part.
Mr. Jackson, a former State Senate president, is trying to keep alive the grass-roots energy that Mr. Platner built over the past year while distancing himself from the former nominee’s personal history. With help from her allies, Senator Susan Collins, the five-term Republican he is trying to defeat, is seeking to tie the two Democrats together in ways the G.O.P. hopes will alienate swing voters.
A 100-day contest
This dynamic is beginning to shape a 100-day contest that will drench this largely rural state with money and place it at the epicenter of the national fight for Senate control. Democrats have turned to a familiar fixture of state government and a fifth-generation logger from Maine’s north woods to make their case against a far better-funded incumbent who has already defied national headwinds once in the Trump era.
The race will test whether Mr. Jackson can leave behind the baggage of a candidate, in Mr. Platner, who bowed out after a rape allegation that he denies, revelations about a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol and a trail of offensive online posts.
By replacing Mr. Platner with Mr. Jackson, Maine Democrats hope to make the race less about their candidate and more about painting Ms. Collins as a tool of the ultrawealthy and a rubber stamp for President Trump on the most pressing matters.
