Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rallied voters in Portland, Maine, on Saturday for Troy Jackson, the Democrat challenging Senator Susan Collins, six months after she headlined a rally there for Graham Platner, the candidate he replaced.
Indivisible Greater Portland billed the event as the “vote early and defeat Susan Collins rally,” and it came 17 days before the Nov. 3 election, WGME reported. Hannah Pingree, the Democratic candidate for governor, told the crowd to “text your cousin, your old roommate, your neighbor that never votes.” Early voting runs through Oct. 29.
Ms. Warren called the race “a choice” between “a rubber stamp for a want to be king” and “a fighter for the people.” “My money is on Troy Jackson,” she said.
She said many members of Congress had shown no spine against President Trump’s agenda, and that a Democratic majority could build “a government that we’re proud of, a government that we know isn’t there just to help the billionaires become trillionaires,” The Boston Globe reported.
She had said much the same about Mr. Platner. His rise as a first-time candidate made Democrats think they could finally beat Ms. Collins, and Ms. Warren stayed with him after reports that he had a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol and had posted disparaging comments about victims of sexual assault. She withdrew her endorsement when a former girlfriend accused him of rape. His campaign collapsed.
Mr. Jackson, who once led the Maine Senate as its president, has had little time to catch up. Public polling shows a close race. A Marist poll taken Oct. 1 to 4 had him at 51 percent and Ms. Collins at 47 percent among registered voters. Even so, 57 percent of those voters said they expected Ms. Collins to win.
Ms. Collins, who is seeking a sixth term, is far outspending him on television and has run a string of ads attacking his record in the State Senate. His campaign said Thursday that it raised $20.4 million in the third quarter, according to The Associated Press.
Where that money comes from is now its own fight. Ms. Collins went after Mr. Jackson at a debate this week for not disclosing his finances. On Tuesday he said, “I know there are no billionaires funding me.” The report he released Thursday shows donations from at least four billionaires, WGME reported. His campaign said it had nearly 200,000 donors, that 95 percent of contributions were under $100 and that it takes no corporate PAC money. Ms. Collins’s campaign said the pledge had “fine print.”
The final debate, in Bangor on Thursday night, turned testy. A protester opposed to data centers began yelling while Ms. Collins spoke, and she called the demonstrator “obviously one of Troy’s supporters.” “Oh, shut up,” Mr. Jackson said. “I don’t even know that kid.” The Maine Republican Party called it “unacceptable behavior,” Axios reported.
On Saturday he mixed up “obsolete” and “absolute” while describing Ms. Collins’s power in Washington, then joked that he hoped to make it obsolete. Told of an ICE arrest elsewhere in Portland that afternoon, he said, “There’s no place for this [expletive] in this country.”
“I’m just a working-class guy from Allagash, Maine,” said Mr. Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who was introduced by the leader of a nurses’ union. “And I got into politics because I got sick and tired of watching working people get screwed every day.” He pointed to universal free school meals and paid family medical leave. “Every time, powerful people told us it couldn’t be done, but you know what? We did it anyways,” he said.
Both candidates come from families with deep roots in Aroostook County. Ms. Collins has held off Democrats for nearly three decades on a reputation for independence. Paula Atkinson, a retired special education teacher from Scarborough, cited her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which helped clear the way for overturning Roe v. Wade. “I think a lot of women feel betrayed,” she said.
Talia Pyzik, an organizer with Indivisible Greater Portland, said the movement behind Mr. Platner hadn’t changed. “The enthusiasm Graham brought to his campaign is infectious,” she said.
Tom Berry, 74, of Kennebunk, handed out doughnuts and urged young people to register. “I call him a diamond in the rough,” he said. Sam LaPenta, 27, a nurse from Sanford, said he doubted how much of Mr. Jackson’s talk would turn into action.
“But I’m hopeful,” Mr. LaPenta said. “Anything is better than the status quo with Susan Collins.”