Platner ally Troy Jackson locks down delegates as top rivals for Democratic Senate nomination drop out

Troy Jackson didn't win a primary. He inherited one. Within what feels like a matter of days, Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah both stepped aside and cleared a path for Platner's chosen successor to lock up the delegates that matter. Maine Democrats will tell you this is just how coalition politics works, candidates read the room, party unifies, everybody moves on. Fine. But call it what it actually is: an anointment, not an election.

Remember why Jackson is even in this conversation. Graham Platner's campaign came apart over his own online history, and rather than let Democratic voters actually sort out who should replace him, the party's infrastructure did the sorting for them. Bellows had statewide name recognition as Secretary of State. Shah had run the state's pandemic response and had his own following. Both cleared out fast enough that it looks less like organic consensus and more like phone calls got made and deals got cut before voters had much say at all.

None of this is illegal, and it's not even unusual for Democrats, who love talking about protecting democracy right up until their own primary gets inconvenient. But it does tell you something about how nervous the party is heading into a race against Susan Collins. She's beaten better-funded, better-organized challengers before, and now she gets to run against a nominee who was installed rather than tested. Jackson may be a fine candidate. We simply don't know yet, because nobody made him earn it.

If Maine Democrats think consolidating fast behind Platner's handpicked ally is a show of strength, they should ask why it felt necessary to skip the argument entirely. Collins has survived worse-organized opposition. She's unlikely to be rattled by an opponent whose main qualification, so far, is that two other people got out of his way.