If history holds, it’s now time for Troy Jackson’s “Brat Summer.”
You remember “Brat Summer.” That was the nickname given to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, begun in earnest almost two years ago to the day that Jackson became the Demorcrats’ replacement nominee for Graham Platner in the Maine Senate race. Like Jackson, she didn’t win a single primary vote. She didn’t even enter.
Like Jackson, Harris was replacing a man who had too much baggage to continue. Like Jackson, there was little enthusiasm by the party when the candidacy began. But everyone tried to make the “Kamala IS brat” thing happen, all because of a popular Charli XCX song and the desire to cast Harris look cool, somehow.
We all know what happened to “Brat Summer” when autumn came. If Troy Jackson’s coronation was any indication, it’ll be even more pathetic this November.
Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate, more or less came into Saturday’s session of the Maine Democratic Party with the nomination sewn up despite not receiving a vote.
He’s a progressive favored by Platner, the novice oysterman who won the spring primary despite a series of red flags in his personal life and who had to withdraw after several allegations of sexual abuse emerged.
The party had until Monday to replace Platner on the ballot, and instead of any sort of electoral process, they allowed delegates to select his replacement. This Kamala-esque coronation was “grassroots democracy in action,” one Maine Democrat claimed.
Maine Democrat Vice Chair Imke Schessler says that handpicking their Senate nominee and icing out Maine voters is “grassroots democracy in action.” pic.twitter.com/wg6wgX0a9T
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2026
Indeed, this wasn’t the only attempt to make this very un-democratic spectacle look like something resembling popular will:
Crowd member shouts “This is what democracy looks like” at the Maine Democrats’ coronation to replace Graham Platner.
Not a single Mainer voted for Platner’s replacement. pic.twitter.com/cC5q1HlX5l
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2026
Maine Democrats’ Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson: “Democracy, while sometimes really messy, is always, always worth fighting for…doing what is right is what us Maine Democrats will choose every damn time.”
Not a single Mainer voted for Graham Platner’s replacement. pic.twitter.com/jgAoNJQcGG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2026
And when it wasn’t Democrats lying to themselves about their commitment to democracy, it was Democrats being Democrats in the most absurd way. Like this land acknowledgment, for instance:
Maine Democrats’ coronation to replace Graham Platner opens with a land acknowledgement.
“We are meeting today in the unceded homeland of the Penobscot nation, the Maine Democratic Party acknowledges the Maliseet, Mi‘kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribal nations.” pic.twitter.com/vqpq31NEBP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2026
OK, then: Let the chieftains of the Maliseet, Mi‘kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot pick your nominee! Simple, right? Oh, you weren’t really serious about that stuff. Just as you weren’t serious about democracy.
By the way, it’s not as if Jackson is the kind of figure that will inspire the kind of excitement that Platner did, at least if the speech after his nomination was any indication:
Troy Jackson — who did not receive a single vote from Mainers — tries to rally the crowd. pic.twitter.com/VcBPfoqYnh
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2026
It’s worth noting, too, that this doesn’t necessarily mean problems are over for Maine Democrats, as reports about his volatile temper have long been in the public domain:
Troy Jackson is all the baggage without the ‘rizz.
You heard it here first. https://t.co/wPjX6Qpi6Z
— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) July 25, 2026
There’s also the fact that he not only endorsed but campaigned with Platner, as Politico reported:
Jackson campaigned alongside Platner and stood by him through several scandals — until POLITICO reported earlier this month that a woman who dated Platner said he had sexually assaulted her, a claim Platner denies. In response, Jackson publicly disavowed Platner and said he had “lied to me.”
Jackson told reporters yesterday he has not spoken to Platner since then. Asked to respond to [the Senate Leadership Fund] ad, Jackson said “anyone that I may have argued with, that I might have went too far or got too passionate, I apologize to.”
That ad highlighted Jackson’s volatile nature, including throwing a water bottle during an argument with a female Democrat lawmaker in 2021. “No tattoo, same crazy,” the ad’s copy reads, in reference to Platner’s infamous Nazi tattoo:
No tattoo, same crazy. pic.twitter.com/jfgTxXUNO7
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) July 25, 2026
“Chuck Schumer forcefully removed Graham Platner from the ballot against the will of Maine voters, only to replace him with a deranged and scandal-plagued political insider,” said Chris Gustafson, communications director of the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP-aligned super PAC.
If that’s accurate, it’s bad. But even if it’s not accurate, it’s still bad — for Democrats. We saw what happened when Kamala Harris was appointed late in the game by party chieftains only to falter down the stretch. The time for a legitimate challenge was last year, not last week.
Once Troy Jackson’s “Brat Summer” period is over, the Democrats will be stuck with a flawed candidate in a must-win race — and the fault is all theirs.
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