Harris has been in hiding for some time. But now she’s front and center.
And Kamala Harris walked back into the spotlight in a move with huge consequences.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson on Monday, drawing a parallel between his sudden nomination and her own hurried 2024 presidential campaign — a comparison Republicans wasted no time mocking.
Harris Compares Jackson’s Short Runway to Her Own Late-Entry Campaign
“I know what it is like to step up to the plate with a short runway to Election Day. Troy will have just 101 days between his nomination for Senate and when voters in Maine will cast their ballots,” Harris said in a Monday fundraising email.
Harris was tapped as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee after incumbent President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in the wake of a widely panned debate performance against then-former President Trump — a comparison that immediately drew scrutiny given how that campaign ultimately ended.
Jackson, a former state senator who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic Maine gubernatorial primary this year, was tapped as the party’s Senate nominee at the Maine Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate Nominating Convention on Saturday. The general election is set for Nov. 3.
Original Nominee Dropped Out Amid Rape Allegation
Jackson’s nomination followed the abrupt exit of Graham Platner, who won the 2026 Maine Democratic U.S. Senate primary last month before dropping out earlier this month in the face of a rape allegation. Platner had asserted, “Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” but the controversy proved too damaging for his campaign to survive.
Jackson is now set to challenge long-serving incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has held her seat since 1997.
Republicans Pounce on Harris Comparison and Bypassed Primary
Collins campaign spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in a statement to Fox News that Harris “knows exactly what he’s going through,” a pointed dig at Harris’s own struggles as a late-entry candidate in 2024.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee went further, mocking the parallel Harris drew between herself and Jackson.
“Nice to see two people bond over their shared passion for completely bypassing primary voters,” the NRSC said in a statement, highlighting that both Harris and Jackson secured their nominations through party processes rather than a full primary vote of rank-and-file Democrats.
