The credibility gap a candidate carries into a race is often determinative before a single vote is cast. For Troy Jackson, who filed Federal Election Commission paperwork this week as a potential replacement for Democratic nominee Graham Platner, that gap opened publicly on Thursday. During an MS NOW interview with host Katy Tur, an independent Maine voter named Brent Hawkes appeared on camera saying he would vote for Republican Sen. Susan Collins over Jackson, citing past votes Jackson cast against gay marriage and abortion access.

The votes in question

Jackson did not dispute the characterization. "Honestly, he is accurate," he told Tur. He placed those votes more than 15 years ago, attributed them to representing "a rural area, a very Catholic area," and said his thinking on reproductive rights shifted when he concluded that abortion access is "a human right." As evidence of that shift, Jackson cited a 100% voting record with Planned Parenthood and said he co-sponsored what he described as some of the most progressive abortion access legislation in the country.

The tension Hawkes expressed is the specific problem Maine Democrats now face in this replacement cycle. Hawkes identified as an independent but voiced progressive priorities, and he included Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, also publicly discussed as a replacement option, in his rejection. His stated preference for Collins over any Democrat in that field frames the nomination decision as a voter-retention problem that the name at the top of the ballot may not resolve on its own.

Jackson's sustained backing of Platner

Tur pressed Jackson on his prolonged support for Platner, who withdrew Wednesday after sexual abuse allegations emerged. Platner has denied those allegations. Jackson had been among Platner's earliest supporters and campaigned alongside him during his gubernatorial run.

Asked why he held through the Nazi tattoo revelation, New York Times reporting on alleged aggressive behavior toward women, and Reddit posts Tur described as "arguably racist and sexist," Jackson said he accepted Platner's explanation that those episodes came from dark periods in Platner's past. He added that he extended that logic because he believes people can change.

With Platner's exit, Bellows and Jackson have both been floated publicly as replacements. Jackson has filed with the FEC.