Peter Howe of Orono and Amanda Gavin of South Portland are Ph.D. candidates at the University of Maine and union leaders with the UMaine Graduate Workers Union, UAW Local 7650.

A few weeks before he launched his Senate campaign last August and became a household name, Graham Platner joined us at a gathering of union leaders from across Maine’s labor movement. Graham marched with us that day as we fought to win our own first union contract.

Since then, Maine politics has become ablaze with Platner fever because we’re hungry for leaders who aren’t just anti-Trump, but who are actually for bold systemic change and willing to say “hell no” to the status quo. Graham Platner’s campaign for U.S. Senate has put Maine on the national map as a site for this new wave of politics, the kind of grassroots working-class politics Zohran Mamdani has brought to New York and Bernie Sanders has championed for decades.

But in Maine’s race for governor, we already have our Graham, our Zohran, our Bernie. He’s the very person who introduced Graham to Maine’s labor movement that summer day, and he’s been here his whole life — fighting for justice up in the North Maine Woods and down at the State House. He’s a logger and union leader from Allagash, and his name is Troy Jackson.

Troy will be the first to say he’s not from the left, he’s not from the right, he’s from the bottom.

Allagash is a town of 237 up on the Canadian border that monied interests, from Augusta to D.C., have long since abandoned. Yet, from 2008-2024, Troy repeatedly won a state Senate seat as a Democrat from Allagash in a sea of red because he carried a different kind of politics. The kind of politics forged by actually being from the bottom, where fighting for each other and a better future is the only option.

Troy’s politics are the politics of solidarity, whether that’s taking a stand for workers in the 1998 Logging Blockade, walking picket lines from Kittery to Calais, championing universal free school meals in the Maine Senate or securing a $60 million child care investment for Mainers.

If you don’t yet know Troy, or his extensive record on workers’ rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, health care, environmental protection, education and tribal sovereignty, it’s because he’s more focused on getting things done. In a campaign race, talk is cheap — Troy has been walking the walk for decades. Rarely do working-class candidates with the experience, heart and fight like Troy Jackson come along — and Mainers are catching on.

Troy’s entry into politics through organized labor and endorsements that span nurses, electricians and tribal councils isn’t just good street cred — it’s a path for us to hold him accountable in office. Troy’s campaign has been fueled by door-knocking and small donations, not out-of-state donors and corporations. When he wins, it’ll be organized people he’s accountable to, not organized money.

With Troy as governor and Graham in the U.S. Senate, imagine what we could win for working people, and for everyone our political system has abandoned. Imagine how our small rural state could become a national beacon for a new era of politics that treats issues of economic justice, social justice and environmental justice as interconnected. The kind of politics that everyone from Republicans to Democrats, from independents to disaffected Mainers, young to old, urban to rural, can rally behind. Troy is that person.

As we face a rising tide of Republican voters across Maine and the country, Troy is the candidate best positioned to not only defeat MAGA Trumpism in November’s general election, but unite Mainers toward a political project that boldly addresses our economic and social issues. 

When you vote for Graham Platner in June, remember Bernie Sanders and Maine nurses both endorsed Troy and Graham because together, they can build a better Maine.

As you make your decision, look into the bills Troy Jackson championed while in the Maine Senate, his proposed policies, clean campaign finance record and remember that Troy was the only gubernatorial candidate willing to take a chance on Graham.