Maine Democrats pick Troy Jackson for key Senate race

Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson won the state Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination on Saturday, ending a two-week scramble to replace Graham Platner on the November ballot. Platner withdrew on July 10 after sexual assault allegations surfaced; he has denied them. Roughly 600 delegates at a convention in Bangor chose Jackson over biopharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier. Jackson will now challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has held the seat since 1997. Maine is one of the parties' top battlegrounds as Democrats try to cut into the GOP's 53-47 Senate majority. Jackson's campaign said this week it had raised more than $1 million since he entered the race earlier in July.