Troy Jackson’s selection could not have been more democratic | Letter

Jacob Posik’s argument that the process by which Maine Democrats chose Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner as their nominee for Senate was undemocratic (“This is what democracy looks like to Maine Democrats?” Aug. 2) is ignorant of the law.

Maine law says that when a candidate withdraws post-primary “the state party committee” will choose a replacement. It’s different in South Carolina, where a special primary will be held to replace the late Lindsey Graham.

Maine’s Democrats could not legally hold a special primary. So, instead, the party leadership developed a process involving as many Democrats as possible. They could have said that “state party committee” meant the party’s executive committee, or that it meant the slightly larger committee composed of the county chairs plus at-large members. But they didn’t. They assembled, on the fly with a very short timeline, a process that included as many party members as possible, using the existing structure of town and county committees and the existing institution of a statewide convention. All party members were eligible to vote at the local caucuses for delegates who then met and voted themselves.

I cannot imagine how, within the law, this process could have been more democratic. Maybe Maine law should be changed, but Posik should admit that the state Democratic Party achieved a robustly democratic process under significant constraints. In this way, Democrats moved quickly to replace someone who might have committed a crime with someone of unquestioned integrity. The contrast with Republicans — who two years ago nominated for president someone convicted of fraud — is striking.

Jonathan Cohen
Farmington

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Tagged: election 2026, letter to the editor, senate 2026