Troy Jackson, a former state legislator, moved into a strong position to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic candidate in the crucial Maine Senate race after several of his opponents dropped out over the weekend. Maineβs secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, withdrew yesterday morning, saying Democrats didnβt have βa day to waste in unifyingβ around the goal of defeating the stateβs longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins in the November midterm elections. Nirav Shah, former director of Maineβs Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also dropped out β and endorsed Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from the northern part of the state, in the evening. He was shortly followed by Dan Kleban, the co-founder of Maine Beer Company, and Jordan Wood, a progressive who worked as the chief of staff to former Representative Katie Porter of California, both of whom also endorsed Jackson. Democrats are scrambling to regroup after their initial nominee, Graham Platner, suspended his campaign earlier this month after a series of scandals that included a woman accusing him of sexual assault, an allegation he denies. Maine is considered a must-win state in the Democratic partyβs mission of taking control of the Senate. US Senate candidate Troy Jackson takes part in a debate at the WCSH-6 television studio, in Portland, Maine, on 16 July 2026. Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP Jackson rallied broad support at the county-level meetings this weekend when party committees across the state began choosing delegates for a nominating convention that will meet on 25 July in Bangor to select a new candidate. Though not legally binding, according to POLITICO , over two-thirds of the 601 delegates have now committed to voting for Jackson at that statewide convention next weekend. Jackson, 58, was elected to the state legislature in 2002 and ultimately became the president of Maineβs senate. He left office in 2024 due to term limits. Jackson then unsuccessfully ran to be the Democratic nominee for governor earlier this year with Platnerβs backing, but was unsuccessful.