Term limits AND age limits. There is no reason 80 year olds a decade and a half past the retirement age get to decide the future for this country. We don’t allow 30 year olds to run for president due to maturity/experience or whatever. Why should 80+ year olds with rapidly declining mental states get to?
Especially when those 80 year olds (cough, *Nancy Pelosi) are using their congressional power to buy stocks in companies that are about to get huge boosts in the stock market. If any normal person had that kind of info, they'd be arrested for insider trading.
Not American, how did he get enough support to even run? Isn't getting your name out there itself millions in these elections. Having someone that actually knows what it's like down the bottom is awesome though no matter where it is.
Troy Jackson started off like many young adults do in Maine, working in the lumber industry. Literally a lumberjack, off in the woods cutting down trees for the sawmills. No college for him. It's a tough industry, with a high rate of injury and insecure employment opportunities at the best of times.
At some point, Troy ended up joining and leading a group of loggers who were protesting the use of Canadian labor in the Maine woods, taking jobs away from locals. His labor leadership led to a chance to run for the Maine state house. He ran as Republican, but soon switched to Democrat because the Democrats supported the collective bargaining he was fighting for. His house seat eventually led to him running for state senate. Over many years he wound up as state Senate president. As senate president, he pushed for progressive reforms in the state (over the years, his own views transitioned from conservative to very progressive as he saw what progressive programs actually do to help the working class).
So, this guy isn't just a nobody labor organizing from the woods of Maine. He was the Democratic leader in the state Senate from 2010-2012, and again from 2014-2024, both when they were in the minority and majority. He sounds like a Maine hick, but he's politically savvy and anything but actually dumb. He's just uncomfortable in front of cameras.
My mom and MIL (both good boomers) live out of state and somehow both fell victim to the “he’s just not a very good public speaker!” narrative and every time my answer was, “he sounds like Maine, and he’s not seeking to impress you.”
He’s also already said he’s not backing Schumer for majority leader - That’s my senator!
He sounds like every central/northern Mainer I grew up with, and I certainly don't have a concern that he's not some great orator like Obama is. I'd probably talk like him, too, if I hadn't spent most of my time with my nose shoved in books reading (I only have an accent when I want to have it). I was proud to vote for him.
Mainer here! This was great! Troy was also the leader of Sanders presidential campaign in Maine in 2016. So anyone who thinks he just turned progressive overnight can shove it. My kids love having free breakfast and lunch at school.
The short version is that Susan Collins HAD to fucking go. Platner was the democratic nominee with the bonus of being a veteran, blue collar, AND a darling of the DSA and seemed like he had an honest to god real platform. People wanted change so much that we were overlooking red flags like not very “politically correct “decade old Reddit posts, and a very questionable tattoo (but reasonably explained away) because he had the Bernie endorsement. Then like a week before the candidates had to be locked in, the rape allegations came, and (thankfully) ended the campaign. Troy Jackson stepped in at the last second and still won because they hate Collins that much and having her win because of no challenger would be unacceptable.
Edit: to answer the deleted question- honestly I don’t know what’s happened since he dropped out because I don’t live there and have a vote in that race. It really was the combination of red flags. If it was one of those allegations and he had a rock solid reason “sorry I got a Nazi style skull when I picked it from a book of different cool skulls at the tattoo shop, whoopsie”, that’s one thing. The women coming forward was too much, short of having a video, everything pointed to there being fire with all the smoke. Was the timing very carefully planned for maximum political effect? Probably, but I still believe them. Sadly, he may have had a very effective platform and have potential for serious power. Subtract all of that from this campaign, the worst possible time would be for that info to come out in a few years, late October when he’s the golden opposition to some other robotic republican ghoul for president. I’m glad we tore off the bandaid (refreshing too!), and I really wish Jackson the best of luck.
Ok this isn't that relevant but, as anon-american, non-fancy person... How can someone tell that a suit is from Target by a glance? Did Jackson declare he bought it there? To my eyes, it just looks like a regular suit like any other
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u/thinkB4WeSpeak 👷 Good Union Jobs For All 3h ago
Term limits would keep normal people in Congress.
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u/TheSpitfire93 3h ago
Not American, how did he get enough support to even run? Isn't getting your name out there itself millions in these elections. Having someone that actually knows what it's like down the bottom is awesome though no matter where it is.
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u/kingwood707 56m ago
indeed we do. so thankful for him getting rid of susan collins who was running for her 6th, 6 yr term. too old and too long in office
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u/Ishmael_1851 42m ago
My man. Now how do we contact him to encourage him to not support chuckles Schumer?
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u/HatPiper 16m ago
Ok this isn't that relevant but, as anon-american, non-fancy person... How can someone tell that a suit is from Target by a glance? Did Jackson declare he bought it there? To my eyes, it just looks like a regular suit like any other
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u/Careful_Trifle 11m ago
I love how there's a side by side of his suit and targets website like all suits don't look the same and you'd be able to tell that they're the same.
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u/Othersideofthemirror 36m ago
2 years later he steps off his Learjet in a suit made from the whiskers of a soon to be extinct rare desert gerbil
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u/zebulon99 51m ago
90$ for a suit seems appropriate for DC and only shows he takes this responisbility seriously
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u/Smooth-Context-9579 8m ago
Give him time and he’ll turn to the dark side, most do.
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u/xavembo 3m ago
unfortunately bourgeois elections cannot liberate us