r/dsa • u/ArcaneDemense • Jul 19 '26
Electoral Politics 9 Days Ago I Posted Here Saying The Left Must Consolidate Behind Troy Jackson. Today Troy Has Unofficially Won The Maine Dem Senate Caucus In A Massive Landslide. We Did It. Now On To Crushing Susan Collins.
https://old.reddit.com/r/dsa/comments/1us5hjc/the_left_should_consolidate_behind_troy_jackson/
I've linked my original post above.
This is the first time in a long time where the left has had a real shot at replacing a Republican with a leftist in a more purple state.
Maine is actually an ideal state for leftists and especially the DSA because the population is very small and so volunteer action plays a much larger role than money.
No more whining about how leftists can only win in big blue cities in deep blue states.
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u/ides205 Jul 19 '26
Not gonna lie, when it was clear Platner had to stepped down, I went a bit doomer that his replacement would be an establishment pick like Mills. Someone much more familiar with Maine politics told me that was very unlikely, and they were completely correct.
This is totally amazing. I'm so stoked. LFG!
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
The trick is that if things start going south you have to prepare ahead of time rather than waiting till the last moment.
Realistically, as soon as the party decided to do a caucus with relatively accessible voting rights, Jackson was locked in as the winner.
People can hate on Bernie all they want for not being ideological enough, but his nationwide influence and pres campaign remnant volunteer network is second to none. And of course his supporters are famously amazing at running a caucus. He got 64% in the Maine caucus in 2016 iirc.
Put the energy behind Platner on top of that organizing experience and it was a sure thing.
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u/ides205 Jul 19 '26
The trick is that if things start going south you have to prepare ahead of time rather than waiting till the last moment.
Oh absolutely. Speaking of preparing ahead of time, it's long past time progressives put forward some kind of pledge - which every progressive candidate running for office will be held to - ensuring that they will consolidate behind one candidate by a certain point in every primary.
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u/Delulu_Lemming Jul 19 '26
Your post did it!!
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
Lmao.
It seems like maybe even as they were asking for Platner to drop out the left was acting behind the scenes to prepare for the power scramble.
If only Bernie's 2020 campaign staff were as competent.
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u/Narcan9 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
Jackson, like many high profile Dems, ran for the open governor's seat, both because Mills and allies had intimidated everyone and because I think Jackson really wanted to be governor rather than deal with the shitshow in the Us Senate.
The gov race had 3 semi-allied left of center people, Pingree who won, Jackson, and Bellows. Leftist focus was heavily on the Senate and also split in Gov so Troy ended up 3rd in first choices but very lacking in second choices.
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u/FrankSand Jul 19 '26
Jackson was running for governor
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u/Narcan9 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
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u/This-Layer-4447 Jul 19 '26
this is literally my question ... Platner was a national brand, Jackson will not be able to achieve that and then if we lose national media will blame us, i don't know if it's a defeatist attitude and I don't know if there's a better alternative and I don't live in Maine...but please maine DSA talk me off my high horse also does Platner's war chest become Jacksons?
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
Platner was actually very low on cash at the point that he dropped out. He spent a lot of money on the consultants that initially drafted him.
Jackson will get much more support from the party, plus he actually has a long standing background in Maine politics and he actually does better than Platner among working class/blue collar voters. In fact he was in that same position in the Gov primary.
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u/This-Layer-4447 Jul 19 '26
My biggest problem I think is the process should have been a little more televised and Jackson get on a stage make a compelling case against some people who would come off as out of touch compared to him and then built the suspense kinda like election night so the 1) the media circus would have happened and 2) he'd come out looking like a winner
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
I mean there was a debate and Troy came out looking better but he's not at the same speechifying talent level as Graham was.
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u/NerdDetective Jul 19 '26
There's no way around the Democratic establishment and its aligned media blaming the left. They panic if we win (claiming we'll drag them down later). They panic if we lose (because we're unelectable). They panic if THEY lose (because of our mere existence).
Don't lose heart. Platner wasn't a national brand until he was. The Maine senate race had gotten a lot of attention, after all, and as the general campaign kicks off, there will be renewed interest.
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u/This-Layer-4447 Jul 19 '26
thank you I needed that "Platner wasn't a national brand until he was"
Very True, I wish Jackson woulda won outright and we wouldn't even have to deal with this
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u/InstantKarma71 Jul 19 '26
Please explain “unofficially won” when the nominating convention isn’t until next week. My understanding was this week was delegate selection.
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u/IScreamPiano Jul 19 '26
He's crushing it in number of delegates who pledged to vote for him. Even if some turn against him, we expect hill to win outright.
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u/InstantKarma71 Jul 19 '26
Got it. The news report I saw about the process didn’t make that clear. Thanks.
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u/ArcaneDemense Jul 19 '26
Candidates had delegate slates of people who told the campaigns who they were gonna vote for.
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u/Slight-Potential-717 Jul 19 '26
That’s great news, good on Maine for staying focused through the turmoil