Maine, home to the latest electoral challenge from a progressive candidate who's hoping to unseat a corporate-backed establishment politician and represent the interests of working people, will also be the site of US Sen. Bernie Sanders' next stop on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, the lawmaker announced Monday.
Sanders (I-Vt.) said he plans to hold a rally in Portland, Maine with Senate candidate Graham Platner and gubernatorial contender Troy Jackson on September 1 as the country marks Labor Day—bringing national attention to Platner's bid to unseat five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The senator said he was looking forward to joining "two working-class candidates who believe in an economy that works for all, not just the billionaires."
Platner, an oyster farmer and veteran, launched his campaign last week, releasing an ad in which he clearly named "the oligarchy"—a term centrist Democrats have insisted most working-class Americans can't relate to or understand—as "the enemy" of the vast majority of voters and expressing anger over the US government's funding of "endless wars."
Jackson, former president of the Maine state Senate, announced his candidacy for governor in May, saying that "too many Democrats have lost touch with working people or shown they're not up to the fight" and adding that he knows "what it's like to punch a clock, live paycheck to paycheck, be treated like I didn't matter while some billionaire got rich off my back—and how to turn that feeling of powerlessness into action."
Jackson is running to replace Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited and who has been named as a potential challenger to Collins. The race to unseat the Republican senator, who has long cast herself as a "moderate" despite supporting the appointments of numerous anti-choice federal judges, is getting crowded with at least six Democrats having announced their candidacy.
Sanders has made more than two dozen stops on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, appearing at some with other progressive lawmakers including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas). He has frequently stopped in districts represented by vulnerable Republicans who supported President Donald Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and has spoken about how people in those communities will be impacted by the law's cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and other social programs.
In an "As Me Anything" feature on the social media platform Reddit on Monday, Platner was asked what lessons he is bringing to his own campaign from the 2020 election in which Democrat Sara Gideon, a state lawmaker, lost to Collins despite raising far more money than her Republican opponent.
"You can't give voters two shades of the same corporate-backed status quo," said Platner. "We need to make clear that there is a real opportunity for change—an opportunity for working people to see themselves reflected in our politics and that's exactly what we're going to do."
The Labor Day rally will begin at 3:30 pm on September 1, with speakers starting at 6:00 pm, at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.
