Democrat Troy Jackson is projected to defeat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine’s U.S. Senate race on Tuesday night, with the logger-turned-legislator ousting the only Senate Republican representing a blue state after a tumultuous race.
Collins called Jackson to concede the race shortly after midnight on Wednesday, a campaign source told HuffPost.
“I couldn’t accept that working people could give everything they had and still have so little to say over their own lives,” Jackson told a crowd at his victory party in Maine, referring to his start in politics as a labor leader. “So when the companies kept pushing us around, you know, we organized, we stood together, and we tried to make them listen. And tonight, tonight you’ve given me the chance to take that fight to the United States Senate.”
Jackson’s victory provides Democrats the cherry on top of their successful battle for the Senate and fulfills the party’s long-held goal of ousting Collins, a moderate who brought in billions of aid to her state but rarely provided an effective bulwark against President Donald Trump and other conservatives.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate,” Collins said in a statement conceding the race. “I’m proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years.”
Jackson only became his party’s nominee in July after accusations of sexual assault forced oysterman Graham Platner out of the contest. Jackson won a quickly planned party convention to replace Platner as the nominee. Platner, then a favorite of progressives, had easily defeated incumbent Gov. Janet Mills, the pick of Democratic leaders in Washington, in the primary.
Jackson ran on a progressive platform, backing “Medicare for All” and harshly criticizing Collins for corruption — a ProPublica story published a few weeks before voting revealed the Justice Department had been investigating her ties to a defense contractor — and slamming her votes to keep the war in Iran going. He emphasized his working-class roots, even as Collins allies mocked him as “bumpkin.”
Polls had indicated Jackson held a steady lead over Collins in the final weeks of the race, even as GOP super PACs were able to successfully damage Jackson’s image with attacks on his record as state Senate president.