MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Democrats in Maine are close to naming a replacement for former Senate candidate Graham Platner. The path appears clear for Troy Jackson, a former state senator with progressive politics similar to Platner's. Party delegates will meet in less than a week at a special state convention to officially choose the nominee to face Republican Senator Susan Collins. Joining us now to tell us more about this is Kevin Miller from Maine Public. Kevin, good morning.
KEVIN MILLER, BYLINE: Hello, Michel.
MARTIN: So how did Jackson emerge as the front-runner?
MILLER: Well, remember, it was only July 10 that Graham Platner withdrew from the race amid an allegation of rape, which he denies. But under state law, the Maine Democratic Party only has until July 27 to put forward a new nominee, so this weekend was kind of the first major step in what amounts to essentially a mini-primary. More than 17,000 Democrats turned out to elect the county delegates who will choose that nominee, and it became clear over the weekend that they elected a lot of delegates backing Jackson. Here he is speaking on Sunday about those delegates.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TROY JACKSON: We earned them because hundreds and hundreds of people organized their neighbors, made the calls, had the conversations and showed up. And that is how working people have always built power.
MILLER: You know, and by Sunday night, his biggest rivals in the race - such as Maine's secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, and former state CDC Director Nirav Shah - they had all dropped out.
MARTIN: OK. So tell us a little bit more about Jackson.
MILLER: Well, he's a fifth-generation logger from far northern Maine who got into politics more than 20 years ago after leading a group of loggers in a protest against forest landowners. He served six years as president of the state Senate. And he actually ran for governor in the Democratic primary just last month, but he didn't succeed.
And he is staunchly pro-union and has long supported many of the populist, progressive policies that were really at the heart of Graham Platner's campaign. So we're talking about things like Medicare for All, workers' rights and taking on the, quote, billionaire class. And, like Platner, he's also running as a really antiestablishment Democrat, which is clearly resonating with voters at the meetings. You know, folks like Lisa Melone.
LISA MELONE: The corporate Dems - I've been done with them for decades. Done with them. They've done nothing for me. You know, they just toe the line and keep toeing the line and making their money and lining their pockets.
MILLER: Yeah. And many grassroots Democrats really made clear that they wanted the next nominee to continue pushing those same ideals that made Platner so popular.
MARTIN: OK. What's next?
MILLER: So the hundreds of delegates meet Saturday for the nominating convention. If Jackson stays on track - and that's not certain, especially in this kind of crazy race - he would be the nominee to face Collins. She's running for a sixth term, but Democrats really think she's vulnerable. In the race for president in 2024, Kamala Harris won the state. And, you know, polls show President Trump is really unpopular not only among Democrats, but also among the independents who make up about a third of voters in the state. Collins says her seniority in the Senate helps give power to Maine, but Democrats say she doesn't use that power to push back against Trump enough.
MARTIN: That is Kevin Miller of Maine Public. Kevin, thank you.
MILLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
