Graham Platner is out. Troy Jackson should replace him | Dustin Guastella

Democrats need a candidate who can speak to working-class, inland and rural Mainers. A logger from the North Woods seems like the obvious choice Maine’s US Senate race was blown wide open by Graham Platner dropping out of the race. Thankfully, a suitable populist is at hand to fill the breach. His name is Troy Jackson. Jackson was born to a 16-year-old mother in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent. He is a fifth-generation logger, union member and former state legislator. As a teenager himself, he went to work in the woods, and by 1998 he led a union logging blockade to prevent Canadian scabs from working Maine jobs. Dustin Guastella is a research associate at the Center for Working Class Politics and the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Dustin Guastella · Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 3:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

Graham Platner is out. Troy Jackson should replace him | Dustin Guastella

Democrats need a candidate who can speak to working-class, inland and rural Mainers. A logger from the North Woods seems like the obvious choice

Maine’s US Senate race was blown wide open by Graham Platner dropping out of the race. Thankfully, a suitable populist is at hand to fill the breach. His name is Troy Jackson.

Jackson was born to a 16-year-old mother in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent. He is a fifth-generation logger, union member and former state legislator. As a teenager himself, he went to work in the woods, and by 1998 he led a union logging blockade to prevent Canadian scabs from working Maine jobs.

Dustin Guastella is a research associate at the Center for Working Class Politics and the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623. He is a Guardian US columnist

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