As he runs to take the place of Graham Platner as the Democratic US Senate nominee for Maine, former State Senate President Troy Jackson affirmed that he was in step with the majority of Democratic voters and would oppose sending military aid to Israel as it commits what he called a “genocide” in Gaza.

Jackson, a longtime labor activist who finished third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary last month, has been floated by many progressives as a fitting replacement for Platner, who suspended his campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins this week following sexual assault allegations.

In his campaign announcement, Jackson hit many similar themes to Platner, who won the Democratic primary last month.

Jackson billed himself as a “progressive fighter” seeking to build a “powerful movement of working-class people” and emphasizing his support for Medicare for All and “tak[ing] on corporate power.”

But some observers noted the absence of any mention of Gaza, which Platner emphasized heavily and which has become a central moral issue for many Democratic voters, who overwhelmingly oppose continued support for Israel as it commits what the majority feel is a genocide against Palestinians.

A review of Jackson’s social media history showed that he had no posts about Gaza when he announced his campaign on Wednesday.

But following reports that an Israeli missile strike had killed a Palestinian aid worker who’d organized World Cup watch parties in Gaza, Jackson took the opportunity to make his stance clear.

“This is unconscionable,” Jackson wrote on X. “Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza. It has to end, and we as Americans have the power to end it.”

“When I’m in the US Senate,” he continued, “I’ll never vote in favor of US taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel.”

Other leading candidates, most of whom ran for governor, have expressed a range of opinions about Israel’s conduct.

Nirav Shah, a physician who led the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019 to 2023 and finished second in the gubernatorial primary, has expressed a similarly strong stance that Israel was committing genocide and that he would support a full arms embargo and would refuse any campaign funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Shenna Bellows, who came in fourth place in the governor’s race and currently serves as Maine’s secretary of state, has not publicly expressed a clear opinion on support for Israel, though in her 2014 Senate run against Collins, she advocated more generally for “deep cuts in defense spending” so public money could be directed toward domestic projects.

The progressive group Our Revolution, which has thrown its support behind Jackson, commended the candidate for taking a forthright stance.

“Troy Jackson doesn’t do word salad,” the group said. “He calls a genocide a genocide and says he’ll never vote for taxpayer-funded military aid to fund it. That’s what Maine voters delivered a historic win for on June 9.”

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