Maine Democrats are having the kind of year that makes you wonder if somebody cursed their entire state party apparatus. After their original Senate candidate, Graham Platner, who sported Nazi tattoos like they were fashion accessories, imploded under multiple sexual assault allegations from several women, the party scrambled to find literally anyone else. Their solution? Democratic socialist Troy Jackson. And wouldn't you know it, that guy might not even be legally allowed to run.
As Conservative Brief reported, Republican state Rep. James White of Guilford fired off a letter on Friday to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows arguing that Jackson cannot simply waltz into the nomination through the party's vacancy process after he already lost a gubernatorial primary back in June. White says the vacancy mechanism exists for actual unexpected openings, not as a consolation prize for politicians who couldn't win their first race.
White pointed to provisions in Maine's election law, specifically Title 21-A, which say a candidate can't file for multiple offices in the same election cycle and that parties filling vacancies must pick a "qualified person." He even cited the Supreme Court's ruling in Storer v. Brown, which called a primary an integral component of the broader electoral process. Basically, he's arguing that Jackson already had his shot, finished third in the governor's race, and now wants to hop over to a completely different contest like it's musical chairs.
Here's where it gets even spicier. Maine technically doesn't have a formal "sore loser" law preventing primary losers from jumping onto general election ballots for other offices. But White contends that if you actually read the state's election statutes together like a normal human being, they effectively create exactly that kind of restriction.
Jackson, a fifth generation logger and former Maine Senate president, became the frontrunner after other potential replacements dropped out and endorsed him. But his record isn't squeaky clean either. Reports have alleged that he berated female colleagues and hurled a water bottle during his time leading the state Senate. So basically, Democrats went from Nazi tattoo guy to water bottle throwing guy. Progress!
The decision on Jackson's eligibility will fall to none other than Bellows herself, who happens to be a Democrat and who previously booted Donald Trump from Maine's 2024 presidential ballot using the 14th Amendment before that move got reversed. Oh, and she was also running in this very same Senate race before dropping out on Sunday. Nothing screams impartial arbiter quite like someone who was literally competing for the same job five days ago.
Meanwhile, Platner withdrew from the race on July 10 after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault, which he denied. Before everything collapsed, he had collected over 156,000 votes in the Democratic primary and wrote that voters were hungry for "a new kind of politics." Well, they're certainly getting something new. Whether it's legal is another question entirely.
Democratic delegates gathered in Bangor on Saturday to pick their replacement nominee through a convention vote rather than an actual primary. Susan Collins must be watching all of this unfold from her couch with a bowl of popcorn the size of a bathtub.
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