As Maine families struggle to afford groceries, rent, and the dream of home ownership, Democrats have handed the nomination to the career politician who championed one of the largest tax increases in decades and backed policies that skyrocketed energy costs across the state: Troy Jackson
And Maine voters never got a say. After Graham Platner dropped out of the race, Troy Jackson didn’t win a statewide primary. Instead, he was selected by Democratic Party insiders at a secretive convention.
The nearly unanimous vote by the party establishment signals they’re satisfied with Jackson’s record and eager to send his failed Augusta-style politics to Washington. Mainers deserve a clear look at what this would mean for their citizens and families.
Jackson’s record in the Maine Senate is a good indicator of how he would legislate in the U.S. Senate. As Maine Senate president, Jackson contributed to a state government that has grown more expensive and intrusive while household budgets have become more fragile. Under his leadership, spending rose, and regulations burdened employers and builders, while lawmakers paid lip service to affordability. Mandates and compliance costs have been passed along to renters and homebuyers, driving up rents and shelving projects.
The consequences of Jackson’s policies hit the private sector first and then showed up in the family budget. Maine now combines comparatively modest incomes with stubbornly high housing, energy, and tax burdens, a brutal mix for anyone trying to raise a family or retire on a fixed income.
Business owners have borne the brunt of these partisan policy shifts, as Augusta’s agenda has driven up energy bills, payroll costs, and insurance premiums. It is simple – when the government makes it more expensive to operate in Maine, it becomes more expensive to live in Maine.
Jackson’s approach is grounded in greater government control over Maine’s economy. It’s why Maine’s organized socialist movement is weighing an endorsement of his campaign. Their support alone raises real questions for Mainers about where this agenda could lead, from energy policy to housing. Socialists are really good at making basic things more expensive.
We saw a preview in Pine Tree Power, which would have replaced Maine’s investor-owned utilities with a quasi-public entity financed by the state’s largest-ever borrowing package and more than $1 billion in new debt. Voters rejected that plan 68% to 32% because they understood who would be left holding the bag. Jackson’s policies have clearly failed Maine at the state level. Just imagine what would happen if Jackson could bring these policies to the federal level.
Aside from his problematic policy stances, Jackson’s ethics are questionable at best.
Troy Jackson has long sold himself as a blue-collar champion from the North Woods. Yet after purchasing an Augusta home, he agreed in mortgage documents to make it his principal residence and said in court filings that he had moved in.
At the same time, Jackson listed an Allagash address in the district he represented on filings with the Maine Ethics Commission, even as he acknowledged living in Augusta. The commission declined to investigate further, concluding it lacked sufficient evidence of a violation, but to Mainers watching from outside Augusta, the arrangement still looks like one standard for Jackson and another for everyone else.
Susan Collins offers a very different pathway. You may not agree with her on every issue, but she has treated Maine’s private-sector job creators as partners rather than targets. She backed federal tax reform to reduce marginal tax rates for small pass-through businesses, helping family-owned companies keep more of each dollar and reinvest in equipment, hiring, and wages. Those changes didn’t create flashy new programs, but they kept doors open on Main Street and gave employers a buffer against the cost-of-living squeeze Mainers feel today.
Collins starts from the idea that strong communities require healthy local businesses and that tax policy should reward work and investment. Jackson’s camp treats private enterprise as something to be abused in the service of ideology.
Maine can’t afford to send the chief salesman of Augusta’s tax-and-spend experiment to Washington and expect him to govern any differently there. Higher federal taxes, heavier regulations, and socialist-inspired experiments in energy and housing would show up in your mortgage payment, your electric bill, and your grocery budget.
This fall’s Senate race is a choice between an Augusta agenda that has driven up costs and chased opportunity away, and steady leadership aimed at keeping this state a place where working families can stay and thrive. Mainers who are tired of being treated as collateral damage in someone else’s ideological project should reject Troy Jackson’s radical, tax-and-spend agenda and re-elect Susan Collins to fight for the economic survival of Maine families.
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Laurel Libby is a member of the Maine House of Representatives.
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