🔒Senate race will have an Aroostook County storyline

Maine’s battleground Senate race is getting underway after Democrats nominated Troy Jackson to face off against longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins in November. Jackson, a progressive Democrat from Allagash who led the Maine Senate for six years, won his party’s nomination by a nearly unanimous vote on Saturday. He will replace Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race amid allegations of sexual harassment that Platner has denied. “Susan Collins and I both come from Aroostook County,” Jackson, a former logger who helped lead a 1998 Canadian border blockade that launched his political career, said in his acceptance speech at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center. “But that is where the similarities end.” The Senate race will likely put the spotlight on Aroostook County. The County, as it's known in Maine, has roughly 67,000 residents but is the second-largest county east of the Mississippi (behind Minnesota's St. Louis County). With its potato and forestry legacy, it is known for its work ethic and cold winters. Jackson was born in Fort Kent and lives in Allagash; Collins was born and raised in Caribou.

Close race

With 566 votes on Saturday, Jackson clinched the nomination after all but one opponent dropped out of the race. Saundra Pelletier, CEO of Evofem Biosciences Inc., a women’s health-focused pharmaceutical startup based in San Diego, received five votes. Polls point to a close outcome in a race that is key to Democrats’ efforts to wrest back control of the Senate. A University of New Hampshire survey conducted online between July 15 and 20 put Jackson ahead of Collins by 49% to 46%, within the poll's margin of error. Jackson touted his grassroots approach in Saturday's speech, repeatedly drawing a contrast to his Republican opponent, who is running for a sixth term. “This election is not going to be decided by corporate PACs, big pharma, insurance companies or the billionaires funding Susan Collins,” Jackson said. “It will be decided in union halls and at kitchen tables.”

Republican response

In an emailed response, Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci called Jackson “a Platner apologist, a radical Bernie Bro and a walking red flag displaying all the warning signs of the early days of the Platner campaign. “Sen. Susan Collins is a proven leader with unimpeachable character who will continue to deliver for Mainers when they reelect her this November,” the statement added.