Another Rugged Man of the Flannel Wants To Take On Susan Collins in November

Put plainly, there’s no shortage of reasons to hate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.)—so known for her feckless politicking that there’s an abundance of Internet memes mocking her for never putting her “concerns” where her mouth is. To name just a few of her slights throughout the several terms she’s served, she’s the lawmaker that helped place conservatives Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court bench; only to then fake disappointment over SCOTUS’ consequent decision in Dobbs; only to then self-victimize every time she was reminded of her anti-abortion record. But the decades-long fight to push her out of office has seemed to culminate into one sole agreement this year: That her replacement should be none other than a rugged man of the flannel. 

For nearly two weeks now, Dems have been racing to replace Graham Platner—a progressive, working-class oyster farmer from Maine—after his campaign hit one scandal too many, the most damning of which involved a woman accusing him of sexual assault in 2021. (He denies all allegations.) The party has until Monday to pick Platner’s replacement, and it’s looking like Troy Jackson—another progressive, working-class lumberjack—is fitting the bill. 

Speaking to the New York Times on Monday, Jackson called his anti-abortion stance early-on “mistakes.” “Regardless of this U.S. Senate race, I’m really, really proud of how I’ve turned that around and, you know, done the right thing. I mean, I was wrong,” he explained. Which is nice and all, and way better than Collins—but it would have been even nicer if he’d realized all that before he got to making decisions about the reproductive rights of women! 

The Washington Post on Monday also flagged concerns about Jackson’s temper—unfortunate, but again, I guess we’re committing to this whole rugged-man bit, and tempering expectations as such. According to the outlet, in 2021 he rage-pelted a water bottle during a legislative meeting about lowering prescriptive drug prices, and on another occasion got into a yell-session with state Rep. Charlotte Warren (D-Hallowell)—an altercation that led her to post on Facebook that “straight white men are too emotional to be in politics.” (Thank you for your service, Charlotte.) Warren says that while the moment wasn’t “Troy’s finest hour,” she still supports his Senate bid. 

Alas, in yet another reminder that many elections look like a constant weighing of bad vs. shitty, it looks like we’ll be soon be seeing more of Jackson—temper, woodchips, and all. Per AP News, it’s also already it’s looking like 481 of the 601 delegates planning to gather this weekend plan to give their votes to Jackson—giving him just a little more than three months to take down Collins. Welp. Let’s just hope this outdoorsy gruffian doesn’t have any more a rotten past than what we’ve seen.

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