Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson is embracing the far-left flank of Maine politics just weeks after being tapped to rescue his party from the wreckage of Graham Platner’s scandal-plagued campaign.
Jackson this week endorsed Portland City Council candidate Todd Chretien, a former co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America who has described himself as a “revolutionary socialist,” written extensively about Karl Marx and argued for a political movement capable of fundamentally overturning the existing system, according to a Friday report by the New York Post.
The endorsement could provide Republicans with another opening to challenge Jackson’s efforts to portray himself as a working-class Democrat capable of appealing to Maine’s political center.
Chretien is not simply a Democrat who has occasionally flirted with socialist ideas.
His own writings leave little ambiguity about his politics.
In a 2018 article published by SocialistWorker.org celebrating the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, Chretien wrote that Marx was not history’s first communist and pointed to Jesus Christ as an earlier critic of wealth.
“Jesus of Nazareth was among the many to condemn ‘rich men’ long before Marx,” Chretien wrote.
Chretien went on to praise Marx for developing what he described as a path toward replacing society’s elite with an “equitable and democratic” socialist system.
That is the candidate Jackson has now chosen to endorse.
According to the Post, Chretien previously served as a DSA co-chair and has described himself as a “revolutionary socialist.” He also served as a Jackson delegate during the Democratic Party’s hastily organized July convention that selected Jackson to replace Platner on the November ballot.
The political relationship cuts both ways.
Chretien supported Jackson during his gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns. Now Jackson is returning the favor as Chretien seeks a seat on the Portland City Council.
For Jackson, however, the endorsement raises a larger question less than three months before Mainers choose between him and Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
How far left is Troy Jackson willing to go?
Jackson has repeatedly presented himself as a logger from Allagash fighting for working families rather than an ideological progressive.
But his political alliances increasingly tell another story.
The Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America previously endorsed Jackson during his gubernatorial campaign and considered backing him again after he entered the U.S. Senate contest. The organization advocates policies including Medicare for All, greater public ownership, increased taxation of corporations and wealthy Americans, and expanded government involvement in housing, energy and other sectors of the economy.
Jackson’s relationship with socialist politics has also drawn scrutiny before.
Earlier this month, the New York Post highlighted comments Jackson made during a 2017 event while explaining why he initially ran for the Maine Legislature as a Republican.
“I would’ve ran as anything, I would’ve ran as a communist,” Jackson said at the time, drawing laughter from the audience.
Jackson said the remark was intended to explain that his overriding goal was gaining elected office so he could help his community, rather than expressing support for communism.
But nine years later, Jackson is no longer simply joking about communism.
He is endorsing a Portland politician whose published work celebrates Marx’s intellectual development, identifies Jesus as preceding Marx in criticism of the wealthy, and openly discusses revolutionary socialist political organizing.
The Chretien endorsement comes as Jackson is already struggling to separate himself from another controversial figure on Maine’s political left: Graham Platner.
Platner won the Democratic U.S. Senate primary before withdrawing from the race in July following a sexual assault allegation and a broader series of controversies. Platner denied allegations that he committed physical or sexual abuse.
Jackson ultimately called for Platner to leave the race, saying the allegations were “serious” and “credible.”
Yet speaking in Belfast on Aug. 22, Jackson appeared nostalgic for the campaign that preceded his own.
“I wish nothing would have happened with Graham,” Jackson said. “I wish, you know, things would have continued like all that. It would have been much better.”
Jackson said he stepped forward because he did not want Platner’s supporters, many of whom had rallied behind the former candidate’s anti-establishment progressive message, to become “broken and hopeless.”
That comment underscored something Jackson has increasingly made clear: He is not attempting to bury the political movement Platner built.
He wants to inherit it.
Jackson previously worked on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns and has repeatedly emphasized themes of class conflict, corporate power and economic populism that overlap significantly with the socialist movement.
Now, by endorsing Chretien, Jackson is putting his name behind a politician whose socialism is not implied, softened or hidden behind campaign language.
It is explicit.
That distinction matters in a statewide race in which independents and moderate voters have historically played an outsized role.
Collins has survived five previous Senate elections partly by winning voters who do not fit comfortably inside either party. Jackson’s path to defeating her requires not only turning out the Democratic base but convincing thousands of Mainers outside Portland’s progressive political bubble that he represents them as well.
Endorsing a self-described revolutionary socialist who writes approvingly about Marx may make that job considerably harder.
The question for Maine voters is becoming less about whether Republicans can successfully portray Jackson as a candidate of the far left.
Jackson increasingly appears willing to make that case for them.
Birds of a feather flock together . Democrats are all trying to out crazy each other at this point .
There won’t be too many of the blue and pink hair sixty five year olds voting for Susan Collins or Bobby Charles .
If Republicans don’t come out to vote in big numbers in November , this thing is going to get real ugly real fast .
Complacency will spell the end of Maine as we’ve known it .
Hanna Pingree will be worse for Maine on her best day , than Janet Mills was on her worst .
These 2 could join Platner and have a porta potty pahty.
#billyjoebob
Which one would be the pivot man?
And how much Vaseline would be required?
Jackson is a consummate liar, everything he says has been tainted with untruths. From his days in the senate where he reversed his stand on many items by the money thrown his way, to his real estate “deals”, to scamming the taxpayers out of over a hundred thousand dollars for his “commute” back and forth from the Allagash that never happened! Nothing he says is believable, everything he says is convenient at the time he says it and is only valid until the next conversation.
These people are so blatantly obvious about their intentions to ruin /destroy “the system” and take control for them selves , under socialism/communism. Its disgusting! People are totally brainwashed , and our kids are taught nothing about our history or what communism has done to kill people world wide. Sad sad SAD state of affairs ladies and gentlemen. And these two scumbags are just as bad if not worse than what we have now.
We don’t have Siberia here, but Jackson will build a gulag up in Allagash for everyone who doesn’t vote for him.
Again, misinterpreted through lack of understanding/study. Basing a Jesus/Marist argument on a “couple” of verses found in the New Testament, not fully understanding entire scripture.
BUT that’s how denom minations get formed. I had to sound that out while typing. AI didn’t smack the back of my hand with a ruler……so I let it fly.