Maine Democrats to nominate Troy Jackson to replace Platner in US Senate race

Maine Democrats to nominate Troy Jackson to replace Platner in US Senate race. WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson is poised to accept the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination on Saturday, formally ending the two-week scramble to replace Graham Platner on the ballot for November's midterm election. Platner withdrew on July 10 after sexual assault allegations, which he denies. Jackson, a fifth-generation logger and former Republican from northern Maine, locked up the nomination last weekend, when his supporters dominated the state party's delegate selection process. Jackson's top rivals suspended their campaigns after his decisive showing. Donations from nearly 25,000 supporters flooded the presumptive nominee's campaign coffers with upwards of $600,000 between Sunday and Wednesday. Jackson's campaign said on Wednesday it had raised more than $1 million since he jumped into the truncated race earlier this month. Some 600 delegates will select the nominee at a party convention in Bangor. Jackson and Saundra Pelletier, the wealthy chief executive of a biopharmaceutical company, are the only remaining candidates in a race that had ballooned to a field of 13. Jackson's acceptance will kick off a 101-day sprint to unseat five-term Senator Susan Collins, a vulnerable Republican who has used her seniority and perch as Senate Appropriations Committee chair to steer resources to Maine. Collins is the only Republican up for reelection in a state that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, making Maine a top flip opportunity for Democrats. Jackson held a narrow lead over Collins among likely general election voters in a University of New Hampshire poll released this week. Collins, a 73-year-old moderate with an $11 million war chest, was last reelected in 2020. Jackson has called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.