Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Troy Jackson starts Maine Senate race at TREMENDOUS disadvantage

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Troy Jackson starts Maine Senate race at TREMENDOUS disadvantage · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: New praise today for Main's freshly wnted Democratic Senate candidate.
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  Speaker 1: One hundred days out from the midterms, former state Senator
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  Speaker 1: Troy Jackson won the nomination to take on five term
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  Speaker 1: Republican Senator Susan Collins. Today, key senators weighing in on
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  Speaker 1: the nominee.
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  Speaker 2: I think he's a strong candidate, and I think we
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  Speaker 2: have an opportunity. And I think Senator Collins has backed
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  Speaker 2: this president on all his stuff right every time it's mattered,
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  Speaker 2: and we could have used her vote to really put
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  Speaker 2: a check on this president.
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  Speaker 3: She stood with Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 4: I've known Troy for many years. What he understands that
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  Speaker 4: the people of Maine are sick and tired of a
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  Speaker 4: rigged economy. He's a working class guy. He's from the
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  Speaker 4: working class. He is very articulate. I think he stands
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  Speaker 4: an excellent chance to win.
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  Speaker 1: Let's bring in former Democratic Missouri state representative and CEO
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  Speaker 1: of Pine Street Strategies Don Calloway here in studio with me.
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  Speaker 1: We have Democratic strategists and author of Jenna Arnold and
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  Speaker 1: also Republican strategist and the most now political analyst, Susan
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  Speaker 1: Dell Percy. Good to have you all here, Hey, John,
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  Speaker 1: did Democrats make the right choice with Troy Jackson? Can
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  Speaker 1: he handle the burden of convincing voters to stick with
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  Speaker 1: Democrats despite the Grand Platner scandals.
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  Speaker 5: There were not.
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  Speaker 6: Many choices on the table. First of all, you have
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  Speaker 6: to find someone who has the experience and the character
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  Speaker 6: profile to be able to pull it off, but actually
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  Speaker 6: who wants to do it with this very very compressed timeline.
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  Speaker 6: Not much unlike the one hundred days that Kamala Harris
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  Speaker 6: had to run. She could talk to him about what
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  Speaker 6: that's like. So, out of a universe of extremely limited choices,
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  Speaker 6: it does seem like former Senator Jackson is a capable
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  Speaker 6: and competent character to be able to do it. But
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  Speaker 6: we should acknowledge that he starts at a tremendous, tremendous
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  Speaker 6: disadvantage because even in Maine, where people are extremely political
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  Speaker 6: aware and active, he comes with less name recognition than
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  Speaker 6: a multi term Senator Susan Collins. And we see that
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  Speaker 6: the main is has that independent streak, so it's going
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  Speaker 6: to be very, very hard to beat Senator Collins. And
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  Speaker 6: it goes back to the choice that the main Democrats
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  Speaker 6: made a year ago to pick Graham Plattner, who was
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  Speaker 6: simply not prepared as a person of character or of
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  Speaker 6: substance to be on this stage. So while former state
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  Speaker 6: Senator Jackson seems to be a quality candidate and I'm
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  Speaker 6: going to be hoping and supporting he wins, the disadvantage
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  Speaker 6: that he's at goes back to the extremely poor decision
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  Speaker 6: to put Graham Platner on that.
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  Speaker 1: Platform, so Joan mention it there. He was a state
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  Speaker 1: senator for a number of years, He has a lot
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  Speaker 1: of Grand Pratner's Platner's rather progressive policies behind him. Is
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  Speaker 1: this proof that this progressive wave is taking hold here?
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  Speaker 1: And do you think he's going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: harness the same kind of enthusiasm that Platner around his
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  Speaker 1: controversies was experiencing.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think he will be. I mean, I think
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  Speaker 7: it's important for Democrats not to mistake resolving this issue
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  Speaker 7: issue as some sort of success. We still have to
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  Speaker 7: be ten toes down on making sure that we're having
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  Speaker 7: the conversations with people in Maine about why it's so
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  Speaker 7: important to continue to put their problems at the feet
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  Speaker 7: of Susan Collins, particularly because she's had how many terms
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  Speaker 7: to be able to resolve this. I love that he's
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  Speaker 7: a fifth generation lagger. I don't know any loggers. I
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  Speaker 7: don't know how many logger candidates there's ever been, but
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  Speaker 7: fifth generation seems profound. He can point to the fact
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  Speaker 7: that hospitals have closed in northern Maine when people in Washington,
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  Speaker 7: d C. Have gotten richer. So I think the conversion
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  Speaker 7: will be helpful. But I think nationally Democrats need to
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  Speaker 7: make sure they continue to put the pressure on that state.
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  Speaker 1: So Susan Republicans are going to be spending massively to
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  Speaker 1: help Senator Susan Collins keep her seat. How critical is
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  Speaker 1: it for Republicans to first keep that seat?
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  Speaker 3: And will money make the difference in this race?
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  Speaker 1: Does it usually.
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  Speaker 3: Great question?
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  Speaker 8: I mean we can go back and ask ken dates
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  Speaker 8: like Mike Bloomberg for president or Jeb Bush who ran
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  Speaker 8: for president, how much money really mattered in the It's significant.
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  Speaker 8: It does not mean you are going to win if
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  Speaker 8: you have the most money.
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  Speaker 3: That being said, I.
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  Speaker 8: Think we have to look at the Republicans have to
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  Speaker 8: be careful that when they're putting spending in they're going
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  Speaker 8: to do it now. They're going to try and define
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  Speaker 8: Troy Jackson as much as possible, as quickly as possible,
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  Speaker 8: and that should.
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  Speaker 3: That's where their job should be limited.
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  Speaker 8: Because one of the reasons why Susan Collins has been
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  Speaker 8: so successful is she's not a National Republican.
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  Speaker 7: She is a.
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  Speaker 8: Senator from Maine and her constituent services and her and
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  Speaker 8: just her whole profile always goes back to doing a
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  Speaker 8: good job for maynors and that's where she has to stay.
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  Speaker 8: And if the National Republicans meddle too much in that message,
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  Speaker 8: that can be problematic. Of course, now that we have
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  Speaker 8: the change in the law as far as how money
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  Speaker 8: can be given and we don't have to see the
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  Speaker 8: separations as much with the packs and candidates, that will
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  Speaker 8: also be significant because they can talk to one another
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  Speaker 8: and really say, this is how we're going to win
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  Speaker 8: this state and come up with a comprehensive strategy.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's move to Georgia with you, Jenna. Senator John
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  Speaker 1: Ossoff certainly leading right now is Republican opponent Mike Collins, Congressman,
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  Speaker 1: former Commerce Converersman by almost double digits in a new poll.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of Osof's campaign so far? What
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  Speaker 1: can Democrats learn from the way he's running it and
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  Speaker 1: the way he presents himself.
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  Speaker 7: I will be a broken record about this, probably in perpetuity,
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  Speaker 7: that we cannot have a strong relationship with polls. Polls
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  Speaker 7: I think sometimes give those of us who are concerned
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  Speaker 7: and paying close attention to the headlines this like lean
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  Speaker 7: back mentality. And while he's leading, he Mike Collins, who
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  Speaker 7: is a deep throated mega. One of the points that
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  Speaker 7: I think the Democrats need to be able to not
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  Speaker 7: just take in terms of a strategy, but really own
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  Speaker 7: an authentic way, is that the math has just not
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  Speaker 7: shaken out for what this administration has promised this country
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  Speaker 7: and the world. Frankly, and we can continue to point
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  Speaker 7: to that have tariffs made any of us richer? Are
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  Speaker 7: we in less remddling in less foreign affairs? Have our
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  Speaker 7: grocery prices decreased? My cups of coffee have almost increased
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  Speaker 7: by twenty five percent. So I think continuing to go
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  Speaker 7: back to the math in a really nuanced way is helpful.
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  Speaker 7: But I don't think we should try to pretend that
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  Speaker 7: every candidate can show up in a very Clark Kent
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  Speaker 7: style like as off Is and win over candidates. We
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  Speaker 7: just need to go back to the books.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, I said Collins was former, and I
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  Speaker 1: got the Mike's confused. We got Michigan, Mike. I got
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  Speaker 1: a lot of them out there, Mike Rogers. Anyway, So Susan,
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  Speaker 1: in this new Emerson poll, voters preferred Democratic candidates of
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  Speaker 1: Republicans nationally by eleven points with one hundred days to go.
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  Speaker 1: Are Republicans on track to lose the Senate at this point?
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  Speaker 3: The Senate?
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  Speaker 8: I don't think so, not with Susan Collins still looking
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  Speaker 8: very you know, very much alive and well and winning
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  Speaker 8: re election. I agreed with everything Don said about assessing
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  Speaker 8: that race. Without Maine, there is no chance. And then
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  Speaker 8: you mentioned Mike Rogers in Michigan. Michigan is a state
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  Speaker 8: that Republicans can actually flip.
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  Speaker 3: So this is going to be a very uphill battle.
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  Speaker 8: When we look at the states that Democrats have to
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  Speaker 8: win to take the Senate, you're looking at.
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  Speaker 3: Alaska, maybe, but tough Iowa. Again, these are all right
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  Speaker 3: states that Donald Trump won with double digits. It is
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  Speaker 3: going to be difficult. It doesn't mean it's impossible.
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  Speaker 8: And that you know, polls, to Jenna's point, are simply
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  Speaker 8: a snapshot in time, they're used mostly for pun raising,
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  Speaker 8: my opinion, not to win elections, so things can look different.
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  Speaker 8: But as we approach one hundred days, Alex, I don't
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  Speaker 8: see where the Senate the map is right now that
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  Speaker 8: Democrats pull up off.
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  Speaker 1: So one last question to you this round dawn, with
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  Speaker 1: the Georgia gubernatorial race much closer, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms
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  Speaker 1: leading Republican Rick Jackson by just two points, and that
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  Speaker 1: is within the margin of error. Five percent of the
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  Speaker 1: voters are undecided. Can Democrats count on independence to swing
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  Speaker 1: those undecided votes their way on election Day?
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  Speaker 3: In the tight races across this country.
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  Speaker 5: No, we can't count on independence to do anything.
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  Speaker 6: That pole is essentially tied within the margin of error
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  Speaker 6: by any numbers. Keisha Lance Bottoms, my dear, a Delta's assistant,
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  Speaker 6: former mayor, you got to hustle this thing.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, you are at the top of the ticket.
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  Speaker 6: I know I'm not supposed to be breaking the fourth
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  Speaker 6: wall and talking directly to the candidates, but no, go
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  Speaker 6: for it.
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  Speaker 5: You've got to hustle for.
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  Speaker 6: Now, for one hundred more days, I'm hearing about the
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  Speaker 6: disarray and some things happening in the campaign.
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  Speaker 5: Maybe that's inside baseball. But you have the opportunity to
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  Speaker 5: put a.
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  Speaker 6: Very talented ticket on your back and carry this across
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  Speaker 6: the finish line. Rick Jackson is no Brian Kemp, who
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  Speaker 6: is very popular and very formidable. Donald Trump is very
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  Speaker 6: unpoppus biller in Georgia, and Rick Jackson can be tied
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  Speaker 6: directly to him. And oh, by the way, there is
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  Speaker 6: an anti billionaire atmosphere all around the country.
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  Speaker 5: Mayorland's Bottoms, please get back to Atlanta.
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  Speaker 6: Get in the streets, get into Astel, get with the
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  Speaker 6: barbershops and the people, and get this across the finish line.
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  Speaker 6: There's a very talented ticket under the ballot under us off.
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  Speaker 5: And Mayorland's Bottoms.
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  Speaker 6: Tanya Miller running for ag But Keisha's got to get
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  Speaker 6: down in the streets and hustle this thing for one
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  Speaker 6: hundred days.
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  Speaker 5: And I think we can do it in Georgia.