Source: Politics<\/p>\n
BANGOR, Maine \u2014 Republicans had months to research and rebuke Graham Platner. They now have exactly 100 days to sink his replacement.<\/p>\n
Troy Jackson is like Platner but worse. He\u2019s a socialist who\u2019s flip-flopped on policy, a career politician who keeps losing, an insider who is also unknown. His nomination was illegitimate, he has anger issues, and he lacks \u201crizz.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just a sampling of the messaging the GOP plans to use to trounce Jackson, the former Maine Senate president who lost this year\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial primary only to glide this weekend into the party\u2019s nomination<\/a> to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November.<\/p>\n \u201cMainers already rejected Troy Jackson once this year after his failed campaign for governor. Now Democrats are asking voters to believe the politician they didn\u2019t want leading Augusta belongs in the United States Senate,\u201d the NRSC, Senate Republicans\u2019 campaign arm, wrote in a \u201cmessaging guidance\u201d document about Jackson, viewed by Playbook. \u201cJackson is a radical, ill-tempered career politician whose failed record and socialist agenda make him unfit to represent Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes are high. Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this cycle in a state Kamala Harris won in 2024, and Democrats\u2019 hopes of retaking the chamber track straight through Maine \u2014 a reality the NRSC admitted is possible in its new donor memo<\/a>, shared first with Playbook, acknowledging that \u201cJackson is fully capable of winning this seat if we become complacent.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans\u2019 first plan of attack is to link Jackson to Platner, with whom he campaigned and shares much of his populist platform. As soon as Jackson\u2019s nomination became official yesterday, the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP\u2019s super PAC, announced that it was launching asix-figure ad blitz<\/a> that begins by depicting the two Democrats hugging on stage.<\/p>\n \u201cJackson is like Graham Platner but worse,\u201d the ad says, citing reporting from WaPo<\/a>, CNN<\/a> and other outlets about Jackson\u2019s alleged sharp temper and heated interactions with colleagues.<\/p>\n The NRSC yesterday posted a video on X<\/a> depicting Platner literally transforming into Jackson \u2014 with the caption \u201cNo tattoo, same crazy,\u201d a reference to Platner\u2019s tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol. \u201cTroy Jackson is all the baggage without the \u2018rizz,\u201d James Blair, who leads President Donald Trump\u2019s outside political operation, said on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jackson campaigned alongside Platner and stood by him through several scandals \u2014 until POLITICO reported earlier this month<\/a> that a woman who dated Platner said he had sexually assaulted her, a claim Platner denies. In response, Jackson publicly disavowed Platner and said<\/a> he had \u201clied to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson told reporters yesterday he has not spoken to Platner since then. Asked to respond to SLF\u2019s ad, Jackson said \u201canyone that I may have argued with, that I might have went too far or got too passionate, I apologize to.\u201d<\/p>\n The GOP\u2019s second push is to brand Jackson as a \u201cpolitical insider\u201d \u2014 a bid to undermine his populist bonafides at a time when voters from neither party trust establishment<\/a> politicians. \u201cWe must act immediately to define him before national Democrats frame him as a populist outsider,\u201d the NRSC memo said.<\/p>\n \u201cChuck Schumer forcefully removed Graham Platner from the ballot against the will of Maine voters, only to replace him with a deranged and scandal-plagued political insider,\u201d SLF Communications Director Chris Gustafson said in a statement to POLITICO.<\/p>\n Part of that strategy is to not only label Jackson as a longserving member of the establishment (Collins, for what it\u2019s worth, has held her seat for nearly three decades), but as a political insider who has failed when seeking higher office. As state Senate president, Jackson was the second-highest ranking official in Maine \u2014 but he ran unsuccessfully<\/a> for the Democratic nomination for Congress in 2014 and for governor earlier this year, a fresh wound Republicans are eager to pick at.<\/p>\n Compounding that insider image is the way Maine Democrats selected Jackson: While more than 200,000 Mainers voted for Platner in the primary, just 566 Democratic delegates actively chose Jackson at yesterday\u2019s nominating convention \u2014 a fact Republicans hope to spin into a narrative that Jackson was coronated by party insiders. \u201cNot one single vote was cast for Troy Jackson\u201d in the Senate race, RNC Chair Joe Gruters said on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJust one month ago, Troy came in third in the Democratic primary for Governor. Now he will run for Senate as the third choice of his party insiders,\u201d Collins campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick said in a statement to Playbook. He added, \u201cin a process concocted by the Maine Democratic Party establishment, a 24-year Augusta insider was appointed to run for the Senate by fewer than three-tenths of one percent of its primary voters.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson, for his part, appears committed to maintaining his image as a populist who, as has become his campaign motto, comes neither from the left nor the right, but \u201cfrom the bottom.\u201d He\u2019s more eager to bring up being a fifth-generation logger than his decades of experience in state politics \u2014 and at any mention of his relationship to Platner, he\u2019s quick to pivot to his role as part of a broader pro-worker movement. And his campaign is staying laser-focused on attacking Collins<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly Susan Collins could spend nearly 30 years in Washington voting with Donald Trump 96 percent of the time and taking millions from corporate special interests, then call a fifth-generation logger from Allagash a \u2018party insider,\u2019\u201d Jackson campaign adviser BJ McCollister said in a statement to Playbook. \u201cMainers know who Troy Jackson is\u2014and they know exactly who Susan Collins works for.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked yesterday to respond to the GOP messaging shortly after clinching the official nomination, Jackson told reporters that he attributes Republicans\u2019 attacks to \u201cSenator Collins trying to make sure that she can win re-election on a really bad record.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been in the legislature for 20 years,\u201d he added. \u201cI do believe I’ve been vetted. I’ve been tested. People know exactly what I’m fighting for. They know that I’ve had their back, and they know they can trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Howard contributed to this report.<\/p>\n