Dem who urged scandal-plagued candidate to quit now mourns his downfall in pivotal Maine race

Maine’s newly anointed Democratic Senate nominee wished "nothing would have happened" to his predecessor, Graham Platner, whose campaign was torpedoed by sexual assault allegations last month.

Troy Jackson, a former logger and Maine State Senate president, slid into the role as Democratic nominee after Platner’s insurgent campaign rapidly unraveled as scandal after scandal piled up, culminating in a sexual assault allegation from his ex-girlfriend that he has since denied.

Jackson had previously run in Maine’s gubernatorial contest, finishing third in the primary earlier this summer.

Once Platner exited the race in July, he was quickly chosen by Maine Democrats to succeed him to take on longtime incumbent Sen.

Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a race that could define the balance of power in the Senate.

BERNIE-BACKED MAINE DEMOCRATIC SENATE HOPEFUL SQUIRMS OVER PAST GRAHAM PLATNER SUPPORT But Jackson never really wanted to run for the Senate, the Midcoast Villager reported, but felt it was important to pick up the mantle of progressive politics that Platner had suddenly dropped.

"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.

But when it did, I just didn't want to see all these people that are looking for somebody to fight for them go away once again broken and hopeless." Jackson, a fellow progressive who had previously worked on Sen.

Bernie Sanders’, I-Vt., presidential campaigns, had campaigned alongside Platner and was endorsed by him in his bid for the governor’s mansion.

PLATNER DROPS OUT OF CRUCIAL SENATE RACE AFTER BOMBSHELL RAPE ALLEGATION TORPEDOES CAMPAIGN When the final allegation hit, he, like several other Democrats both in-state and across the country, called on Platner to exit the race.

"The allegations against Graham Platner are serious, credible, and deserving of full accountability — they cannot and must not be ignored," Jackson said in a statement on X at the time.

"There is a powerful movement of working-class people in the state of Maine," he continued.