(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Maine Democrats on Saturday officially declared socialist Troy Jackson their U.S. Senate nominee after ousting duly-selected candidate Graham Platner two weeks earlier.
But according to some, Jackson may be ineligible, opening a potential pathway for challengers like social-media sensation Ashley Webb, a transgender candidate who went viral for graphic discussions of man-struation on the site Reddit.
Jackson secured 566 of the 571 delegate votes on Saturday for the opportunity to take on Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in September.
🚨 JUST NOW: The Maine Democrat Party is CORONATING a replacement for Graham Platner in the US Senate race — "It's not the voters picking, it's Democratic delegates" 😂
The party of "DEMOCRACY" canned a duly-chosen nominee AGAIN, now they're coronating Troy Jackson, accused of… pic.twitter.com/xfGRIncnrn
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 25, 2026
“They will say that a grassroots campaign, powered by working people, cannot defeat Susan Collins and every powerful interest standing behind her. They are wrong again,” Jackson said in an acceptance speech after he was handed the opportunity by party elites.
Jackson beat out healthcare executive Saundra Pelletier, as well as career public bureaucrat David Costello. Webb, who participated in a July 16 debate with the three, failed to secure enough signatures to qualify for the convention ballot.
Platner won the June 9 primary, handily defeating the next closest candidate, Gov. Janet Mills, by a margin of 72% to 19%. Costello finished in third place with 8%.
He withdrew from the race after his poll numbers began to fall, following multiple allegations of rape and violence toward women. The scandal reportedly led state Attorney General Aaron Frey to threaten Platner with potential criminal charges if he refused to drop out.
But according to state Rep. James White, Jackson may be subject to the state’s so-called sore-loser law, having been earlier defeated in the state gubernatorial primary with a total of zero votes.
GOP Rep. James White (Maine) points out that Troy Jackson may not legally be eligible to be the nominee for Senate. pic.twitter.com/hKXGgBSMLo
— Kat (@katagious2) July 24, 2026
In a letter to Democrat secretary of state Shenna Bellows, White, a Republican, cited several sections of the state’s Title 21-A statute prohibiting candidates who already lost in a given election cycle from entering a different race.
“Mr. Jackson filed as a candidate for Governor, appeared on the June primary ballot, and was defeated by Maine voters,” Jackson wrote.
“He now seeks to become the Democratic nominee for an entirely different statewide office through the vacancy process,” Jackson added. “That sequence raises substantial questions as to whether he is legally a ‘qualified person’ under Maine law.”
The same might also be true of Costello, leaving only Pelletier and Webb as eligible candidates.
White noted that the law was established to prevent just such a bait-and-switch as Democrats used — yet again — to replace the deeply flawed Platner.
“This question extends well beyond a single candidate or a single election,” he wrote.
“It goes to the integrity of Maine’s election laws and whether statutory qualifications apply equally to every candidate or may be disregarded when political expediency favors a different result,” he continued. “The vacancy process exists to fill an unexpected vacancy, not to provide a second opportunity for a candidate who already sought and lost another office during the same election process.”
White’s appeal to the rule of law is unlikely to sway Bellows, who previously tried, unsuccessfully, to block President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 ballot with a spurious ploy involving the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
Regardless, Jackson is, like Platner, a candidate with a concerning history of violence, in addition to his extreme political views.
In early July, after Jackson’s name was first floated as the heir apparent to Platner, allegations emerged that he had hurled a water bottle at a fellow Democrat who disagreed with him.
“In our discussions we have received troubling information about not only Jackson’s behavior, but the behavior of many prominent Maine Democrats toward women more broadly,” wrote the group Progressive Victory in a now-deleted July 7 post that was corroborated by a July 20 Washington Post article.
“Both as a result of the credibility of the sources and in the interest of not seeing our movement make the same mistake twice, we are choosing to share some of this now,” Progressive Victory said.
Webb, whose profile has risen considerably over the past week with a series of online memes, may wind up as the proverbial “last man standing” in the Senate race, which must be finalized by Monday at the latest.
However, the author and songwriter also cautioned voters about potential red-flag rage issues during the candidate debate.
That smile…
Democrat rising star hopeful Ashley Webb says his qualifications are that he’s a songwriter, writes his own books, and that he’d be one “angry senator”
We all should hope that’s he wins. lolhttps://t.co/d4JciEIpst pic.twitter.com/s92DnDst2o
— Q + XRP TRUMP = RESET 🇺🇸 (@QXRPTRUMPGESARA) July 19, 2026
“I guess the biggest thing is, I’m just an angry citizen now,” Webb said. “And if I got elected, I’d be an angry senator.”
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
