Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson may have effectively clinched the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine.
Jackson, who is seeking to replace scandal-plagued Graham Platner on the Democratic ticket after Platner dropped out, has the backing of more than half of the delegates who will attend next weekend’s nominating convention, according to an analysis by the Bangor Daily News.
His position strengthened Sunday as four rivals — former state Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Capitol Hill staffer Jordan Wood and Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban — withdrew from the contest.
On Saturday, 500 delegates and 101 members of the state’s central committee are scheduled to meet in Bangor, Maine. Those 500 delegates were being chosen this weekend. The Bangor Daily News reported that York County, which borders New Hampshire, put Jackson over the top, bringing his total of pledged delegates over 301.
“Thank you, York County. We’re organized, we’re ready, and we’re going to win. Solidarity forever,” Jackson wrote on X.
The delegates are formally unbound, meaning they are not legally required to vote for a specific candidate even if they promised to during the delegate selection process.
Shah said he would withdraw from the race to put the party’s energy into defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
“Today I am stepping aside, and I am doing it for exactly the same reason that led me to get in: we must defeat Susan Collins, and the Democratic Party must be unified to do it,” Shah wrote in a statement posted to X.
Shah, Wood and Kleban immediately backed Jackson when they announced their decisions to drop out.
The race to become the Democratic nominee for Senate reopened earlier this month after Platner withdrew amid sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.
