{"id":49105,"date":"2026-07-10T12:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49105"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:38:18","slug":"ill-be-a-vote-for-medicare-for-all-troy-jackson-makes-his-case-after-platner-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/ill-be-a-vote-for-medicare-for-all-troy-jackson-makes-his-case-after-platner-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ll Be a Vote for Medicare for All\u2019: Troy Jackson Makes His Case After Platner Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Troy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Troy Jackson speaks during a May Day rally organized by local unions on May 1, 2026 outside City Hall in Portland, Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Graeme Sloan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe may both be from Aroostook County, but we\u2019re not the same,\u201d Jackson said of Republican Sen. Susan Collins.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jul 09, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from northern Maine<\/a> who previously served as the state\u2019s Senate president, is making the case that he has the best shot at unseating Republican Sen. Susan Collins<\/a> in November following Graham Platner\u2019s exit from the race<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a powerful movement of working class<\/a> people in the state of Maine, and millions more across America who are ready to send a progressive fighter to the Senate,\u201d Jackson wrote in a social media post<\/a> on Wednesday, formally announcing his Senate run. \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting for that movement my whole life\u2014and I\u2019m sure as hell not backing down now, when this fight is needed most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Troy<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Troy Jackson Files to Explore Senate Bid as Graham Platner Faces Growing Calls to Exit<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Democratic<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Troy Jackson Says He Would \u2018Never Vote\u2019 for Military Aid to Israel if Elected to Senate<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m in,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to defeat Susan Collins. Maine deserves a senator that will fight for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson, who filed federal paperwork<\/a> earlier this week to explore a US Senate<\/a> bid as the Maine Democratic Party<\/a> scrambled to construct a process to choose Platner\u2019s replacement ahead of the July 27 deadline, recently fell short in a highly competitive race for the Maine Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those who are rallying behind Jackson argue his economic populist messaging, union backing<\/a>, support for Medicare for All<\/a>, and appeal across broad swaths of Maine\u2014including rural counties<\/a>\u2014make him the most sensible choice to take on Collins, who is running for a sixth term in the US Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTroy has spent his life fighting for working people,\u201d said the national progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, which rescinded its endorsement of Platner following the sexual assault<\/a> allegation against him, which he denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Revolution noted that Jackson led Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 (I-Vt.) presidential campaigns in Maine in both 2016 and 2020. Jackson also appeared alongside Sanders and Platner at \u201cFighting Oligarchy<\/a>\u201d rallies during his gubernatorial bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLong before this Senate seat became available, Troy had built a record of standing with\u00a0workers<\/a>,\u00a0unions<\/a>, and rural communities across Maine,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Our Revolution, which announced Wednesday that it is mobilizing volunteers across Maine to \u201censure voters are represented by a candidate who reflects the agenda they overwhelmingly supported\u201d during the Democratic primary process\u2014a contest that Platner won handily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/TroyJackson207\/status\/2075203142774329818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2075203142774329818%7Ctwgr%5E4d145266fb9bbaf761c8edcfe6ef292fd80e4c56%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftroy-jackson-replace-graham-platner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson is one of several Democrats jumping at the opportunity to challenge Collins, who has enabled<\/a> President Donald Trump\u2019s destructive legislative agenda and helped pave the way for the gutting of reproductive rights nationwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, formally announced<\/a> on Thursday that he is launching a bid to replace Platner. Shenna Bellows, Maine\u2019s secretary of state, said<\/a> Tuesday that she is \u201cseriously considering\u201d entering the Senate race. (Like Jackson, both Shah and Bellows unsuccessfully ran for Maine\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial nomination.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A flash poll commissioned<\/a> by the Platner campaign earlier this week found that Jackson performed better than Shah and Bellows in hypothetical match-ups against Collins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine Kirby, a spokeswoman for Jackson, told<\/a> Drop Site on Tuesday that since the sexual assault allegation against Platner was made public, Jackson\u2019s team has received a torrent of calls and messages urging him to run for the Senate nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is clearly the strongest option to replace Graham Platner and take on Susan Collins in the general election,\u201d said Kirby. \u201cThis movement is greater than any one person, it\u2019s about a coalition of Maine people fighting for a future that doesn\u2019t have to belong only to the wealthy and powerful. And Troy is up for the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Troy Jackson speaks during a May Day rally organized by local unions on May 1, 2026 outside City Hall in Portland, Maine. \u00a0(Photo by Graeme Sloan\/Getty Images) \u201cWe may both be from Aroostook County, but we\u2019re not the same,\u201d Jackson said of Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Jake Johnson Jul 09,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1879],"tags":[2164],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49106,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49105\/revisions\/49106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}