‘Like Graham Platner But Worse’: GOP Group Vows $42,000,000 Campaign Against Last-Minute Replacement Democrat

A Republican group has vowed to spend at least $42 million against the new nominee to be one of Maine’s Democratic senators, Troy Jackson, the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) has learned.

The Maine Democratic Party picked Jackson, a former logger and state senate president, at a Saturday convention to replace its former nominee, Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race after his ex-girlfriend accused him of rape. The same day, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) announced it would be spending $42 million on the race against Jackson — including a six-figure ad buy — and launched a 30-second ad declaring the new nominee is “worse” than the scandal-ridden man he replaced on the ballot.

“Chuck Schumer forcefully removed Graham Platner from the ballot against the will of Maine voters, only to replace him with a deranged and scandal-plagued political insider,” SLF Communications Director Chris Gustafson told the DCNF. “Mainers value steady leadership that yields real results for the Pine Tree State, making Susan Collins the clear choice once again this November.”

“Volatile personality. Anger issues with women. Verbal abuse,” narrates a voice during the SLF’s new ad obtained by the DCNF. The ad cited and quoted both a July 20 report from CNN and a July 21 report from The Hill.

“It’s not Graham Platner, it’s Troy Jackson. Jackson has a history of conflicts with women, bullying, even intimidation. Jackson’s conduct was so bad his fellow Democrats raised alarm bells about his temperament,” the ad’s voiceover continues, citing other July reports. “Jackson is like Graham Platner but worse.”

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The Republican super PAC’s ad also references a 2023 report from The Portland Press Herald stating an ethics panel was reviewing a complaint regarding Jackson’s second home. Some Republicans at the time said the then-Senate president’s conduct may have amounted to mortgage fraud, according to the local Maine outlet.

SLF’s ad also cites the Bangor Daily News’s Wednesday report that Jackson owed $4,600 in back state taxes during his failed bid for Maine governor earlier this cycle.

“That’s the real Troy Jackson,” the voiceover concludes.

The northern Maine Democrat is set to face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate who has held the seat since 1997. Collins is the only remaining upper chamber Republican who represents a state former Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 general election. The longtime GOP senator ended the second quarter of 2026 with $11 million on hand, the Maine Morning Star reported.

Jackson came in third in Maine’s June 9 Democratic gubernatorial primary. His governor run was notably endorsed by both Platner and socialist Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“Troy Jackson lost his bid to be Governor and he will lose his bid to be Senator,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell said in statement sent to the DCNF. “Jackson is a Democrat socialist who has only made life harder in Maine, while Susan Collins has secured $1.5 billion in funding to benefit Mainers in all 16 counties.”

Platner had won the Democratic Senate primary, also held June 9, with over 70% of the vote against 78-year-old Gov. Janet Mills, who had already dropped out. Platner reported $1.7 million in cash on hand a little more than a week before he exited the race in disgrace, according to the Maine Morning Star.

The oyster farmer and Marine veteran’s landslide win came despite the fact he had been embroiled in various scandals at the time, including allegations of abuse by his ex-girlfriends, resurfaced incendiary Reddit posts, and his previous decision to get a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. Platner had been endorsed by many prominent left-wing figures, including Sanders, who only withdrew his support after the Maine Democrat’s later rape allegation surfaced.

Jackson is widely viewed as being on the Democratic Party’s populist left flank — like Platner — and both men hold very similar views. Notably, both Jackson and Platner have used the word “genocide” to refer to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Jackson, however, had previously taken significantly more conservative positions, including beginning his political career in the early 2000s as a Republican opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Jackson now supprorts a “federal right to abortion” and “comprehensive civil rights legislation protecting the LGBTQ+ community,” according to his campaign website.

Affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the SLF describes itself as “the only outside organization solely dedicated to protecting and expanding the Republican Senate Majority.”