AUGUSTA — Supporters of presumptive Senate Democratic nominee Troy Jackson say they are looking for party unity at the special convention set for this weekend in Bangor.
“I hope it will be unifying,” said Patrick McGowan, a Kennebec County delegate and co-chair of Jackson’s finance committee. “Somebody’s got to win and sometimes it’s a really good person.”
McGowan, a former Democratic state lawmaker, was one of the 40 delegates chosen at last week’s selection meeting in Augusta. Statewide, Jackson won well more than 90% of the delegates, including getting all of them elected out of Kennebec County.
“It was a big win,” McGowan said. “We had 40 for 40. It was really well organized. I thought it was a brilliant move on Troy’s part and the campaign’s part.”
On Saturday, 601 delegates will gather in Bangor for a convention to officially choose a nominee to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth term. The compressed timeline to choose a nominee comes after the July 10 withdrawal of Graham Platner from the race.
While Jackson is the presumptive nominee, David Costello — who finished third in the June primary won by Platner — and Saundra Pelletier, the CEO of a women’s health company, also qualified to compete at Saturday’s convention.
Rep. Holly Stover (D-Boothbay Harbor) is one of the 101 members of the state party committee who will be voting on Saturday alongside the 500 delegates elected last weekend.
She said Jackson’s experience in the Maine Legislature — he served two decades in the House and Senate — makes him a strong nominee to take on Collins. That’s because he has a wide range of experience on issues facing many Mainers, including taxes, housing, health insurance costs and food insecurity, she said.
“All of those things we know are so top of mind for Mainers,” she said.
She also likes the potential matchup with Collins, which would pit two northern Maine natives against each other. Collins grew up in Caribou and Jackson in Allagash, just 90 minutes apart in Aroostook County.
At the delegate selection meeting on Saturday in Augusta, Kelly Roderick of Oakland said she is a firm supporter of Jackson.
“Troy believes in the everyday, average person,” she said. “That is the most important thing to me. That he is going to look out for teachers, he’s going to look out for the most vulnerable populations that are struggling financially that don’t have health insurance.”
Roderick said she was not there to run as a delegate, but rather to vote for the Jackson slate of delegates.
“Folks that are running for delegates truly are embedded in helping Troy get through this and getting Troy as our next senator,” she said.
McGowan said Jackson starts the race from a disadvantage with just over 100 days until the election. He expects Jackson to be outspent but is banking on support from organized labor and other groups to get him across the finish line.
Mainers are well aware that winning the state is part of a strategy by national Democrats to take control of the Senate.
“This is what stops sort of the backslide of what’s happening in the United States right now,” he said. “I’m fired up. I think a lot of people are really happy and fired up for this guy.”