Abortion Rights Group Endorses Troy Jackson in Maine Senate Race

Reproductive Freedom for All, one of the nation’s oldest abortion-rights organizations, announced its endorsement of Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson in the pivotal Maine race. The group’s president, Mini Timmaraju, said the endorsement reflects the organization’s view that flipping the Senate is essential to restoring a federal right to abortion. Jackson, a former state senate president and ex-Republican, will face five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins, whose 2018 vote confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh ties her to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

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The 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade triggered near-total abortion bans in more than a dozen states. Collins, who previously positioned herself as a moderate Republican supportive of abortion access, defended her Kavanaugh vote in June, a remark Jackson’s campaign has used to link her to the Trump administration’s anti-abortion agenda. The race occurs amid a midterm environment shaped by inflation, affordability concerns, and the ongoing military conflict with Iran.

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Timmaraju explained that the group waited to endorse until the campaign’s internal dynamics settled, noting the need to “regroup” and follow local input. Both sides acknowledge Collins’s seniority and her record of directing federal funds to the state, factors that historically make incumbents difficult to unseat.

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• Jackson holds a 100 % rating from Planned Parenthood since 2017.

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• Planned Parenthood’s Super PAC has committed more than $600,000 to ads criticizing Collins’s abortion record in Maine.

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• Jackson secured the Democratic nomination in July after a snap convention, replacing former candidate Graham Platner, who withdrew amid sexual-assault allegations he denies.

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• “Flipping the Maine Senate race is a critical path to winning a Senate majority, and we do not restore a federal right to abortion without flipping the Senate majority,” — Mini Timmaraju, the group’s president

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• “She can defend that vote all she wants. I’m running for Senate to restore and expand the federal right to abortion and make damn sure politicians never again get to take this freedom away from Mainers,” — Troy Jackson

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