In Maine Senate Race, Anxious Democrats Turn to Bernie Sanders for a Jolt
Three months after a jarring summer candidate switch, some Democrats in the state are worried about the enthusiasm for their nominee, Troy Jackson, who is in a close race.
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Three months after a jarring summer candidate switch, some Democrats in the state are worried about the enthusiasm for their nominee, Troy Jackson, who is in a close race.
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· 5:46 min
Oct. 11, 2026
When Graham Platner dropped out of the Senate race in Maine in July after a rape allegation he denied, it deflated many Democrats who had rallied to his campaign.
Three months later, some Democrats in the state are worried about the enthusiasm for Mr. Platner’s last-minute replacement, Troy Jackson, in his pivotal race against Senator Susan Collins, a fifth-term Republican. In the final weeks of a close race, Mr. Jackson and his allies are still trying to excite voters who were disillusioned after the summer switch.
This weekend, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leader of the progressive movement who is popular across New England, decamped to the state for a three-rally trip to try to energize Mr. Jackson’s campaign. Mr. Sanders, once a chief political patron of Mr. Platner, also has deep connections to Mr. Jackson, who served as a Maine state chair of Mr. Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
On Saturday night, at a rally in a Bangor convention center, Mr. Sanders declared that Mr. Jackson was running an “extraordinary” campaign and noted that the circumstances in which Mr. Jackson had entered the race “ain’t easy.”
The visit by Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, comes as Republicans are eager to paint Democratic candidates, including Mr. Jackson, as far-left extremists. Part of Mr. Jackson’s challenge in the closing stage of the race will be finding ways to fire up his party’s base without alienating moderate voters.
On Sunday, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Jackson visited a soaring former church in working-class Lewiston, where the crowd buzzed long before either man took the stage. Piles of blue T-shirts bearing Mr. Jackson’s name rested on tables, “I’m With Troy” yard signs were stacked against the walls and a hundreds-strong standing-room crowd filled the building.
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Originally published by nytimes.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Glamour Canada.
