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Sanders Endorses Working Class Champion Troy Jackson for Maine Governor
"Troy knows what's going on with the working class of Maine because he's part of that working class," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
May 21, 2025
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday endorsed Troy Jackson's Democratic gubernatorial bid in Maine, calling the former state Senate president and fifth-generation logger "different" from establishment Democrats who have abandoned the working class.
"The working class is under attack from oligarchs and their friends in Washington and in state capitols across the country," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "It's no wonder working folks are angry. They are angry because they feel like no one is in their corner and Democrats just aren't listening to them."
"Fighting for the working class of Maine is not something new for Troy," the Vermont senator continued. "That's what he has done for his entire life as a logger and as a member of the Maine state legislature. Troy knows what's going on with the working class of Maine because he's part of that working class."
Jackson, who officially announced his gubernatorial run on Monday, similarly cast himself as a departure from the Democratic status quo, declaring that "too many" members of his party "have lost touch with working people or shown they're not up to the fight."
"All while Mainers struggle as prices rise, wages stagnate, and greedy corporations rake in record profits to buy off politicians," Jackson said. "I know what it's like to punch a clock, live paycheck to paycheck, be treated like I didn't matter while some billionaire got rich off my back—and how to turn that feeling of powerlessness into action."
Jackson, who served as the president of Maine's Senate from 2018 to 2024, joins a 2026 field that includes Angus King III—the son of U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)—and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
The candidates are vying to succeed Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited and set to leave office in January 2027.
Jackson supported Sanders' 2016 and 2020 bids for the Democratic presidential nomination, expressing support for the Vermont senator's push for single-payer health insurance, lower prescription drug prices, and stronger union protections.
"That's what every politician in this country should be working for," Jackson said at a 2019 rally for Sanders in Portland, Maine.
In his statement endorsing Jackson, Sanders said that "under the oligarchic and authoritarian regime of Donald Trump, we find ourselves living in an unprecedented moment in modern American history."
"As a result, we've got to respond in an unprecedented way," said Sanders. "We need candidates who, unequivocally, will stand with working-class families against the enormous power of the monied interests."
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Months After Oversight Battle, Rep. Gerry Connolly Dies at 75
The lawmaker announced in late April that he was stepping down from his ranking member position on the powerful House Oversight Committee.
May 21, 2025
Three weeks after announcing he would not run for reelection and would step down from his leadership role on a powerful U.S. House committee, Rep. Gerald Connolly died Wednesday at the age of 75.
Connolly (D-Va.) announced in November just after winning his reelection campaign that he'd been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
Connolly's family stated that he "passed away peacefully at his home this morning surrounded by family."
"Gerry lived his life to give back to others and make our community better," said the Connolly family. "He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just. He was a skilled statesman on the international stage, an accomplished legislator in Congress, a visionary executive on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a fierce defender of democracy, an environmental champion, and a mentor to so many."
His death came five months after he won the role of ranking member on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also ran for the position, saying the role of the top Democratic lawmaker on the panel was a "profound and consequential one," with the ranking member empowered to subpoena members of the Trump administration should Democrats win the 2026 midterm elections.
A number of lawmakers and political observers expressed support for Ocasio-Cortez's bid, with former Obama administration staffer Dan Pfeiffer calling her "probably the best communicator in the Democratic Party right now."
Connolly signaled that he would take a reserved approach to the powerful position, suggesting in one interview that his colleagues who go "on cable television" to denounce the Trump administration were "performative"—comments that frustrated many progressives who believed Ocasio-Cortez would wage effective attacks on the Trump administration and would keep the crucial committee in the spotlight.
"He was a skilled statesman on the international stage, an accomplished legislator in Congress, a visionary executive on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a fierce defender of democracy, an environmental champion, and a mentor to so many."
But much of progressives' ire over the Oversight battle was reserved not for Connolly but for Democratic leaders like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who reportedly made "calls" to Democratic lawmakers urging them to join her in supporting Connolly.
Political organizer Max Berger, co-founder of the Jewish-led Palestinian rights group IfNotNow and the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union, said Wednesday that Pelosi's interference ensured the victory of a lawmaker who was in frail health "over an up-and-coming Latino woman"—as then-President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, were gearing up to dismantle federal agencies, fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers, secure financial benefits for Musk's aerospace company, and gut the social safety net in order to secure tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
"Have the past five months been an important time for congressional oversight?" Berger asked rhetorically on Bluesky. "As Trump and Musk were ransacking the federal government, congressional Democrats put a 74-year-old cancer patient in charge of providing oversight. He died within five months of taking the job. It's a form of political negligence that borders on criminal."
Amanda Litman, president of Run for Something, said Connolly "was a good guy, a good leader, and a committed public servant."
"It's so deeply sad on many levels that his final months of life were spent fighting to hold on to power," said Litman.
In the last two-and-a-half years, eight members of the U.S. House have died while in office. All have been Democrats, and three have died since Trump took office for his second term.
Both before and after his diagnosis and the Oversight fight that garnered national headlines, Connolly was a fierce defender of federal workers, including those at the U.S. Postal Service. In March he demanded a public hearing on the Trump administration's threats to privatize the USPS. He was also a fierce critic of Trump's plan to strip federal employees of job protections, and sponsored a bill that passed in the House in 2021 to block federal job reclassifications.
He sponsored the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act in 2014, which was credited with speeding up processing times for and Social Security beneficiaries and veterans needing services, strengthening cybersecurity at hospitals, and expediting federal emergency responses—"his major legislative legacy to date," Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, toldThe Washington Post.
"It did transform a part of the operations of the federal government in what is considered by experts to have been profoundly important," said Rozell.
Connolly also led the Democrats' successful fight during Trump's first term against the addition of a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, saying it would provoke "real and palpable" fear in many households. In a memorable CNNinterview in 2019, he said he would "go to the max" to ensure the administration complied with court orders and threatened jail time for officials who resisted subpoenas.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, called Connolly "a tireless champion of effective oversight, a brilliant legislator, and a cherished presence in the House."
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From Power as an Aphrodisiac to Prostate Cancer: Democrats and the Fall of Joe Biden
The presidency is the ultimate source of power in American politics. But individuals lusting for power does not typically end well for the masses—especially the working class.
May 21, 2025
There is a fable that when Kissinger and Nixon met with Mao Zedong, Mao wondered out loud why the physically unattractive Kissinger was so successful with women. Kissinger quipped, supposedly, that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
Anyone who has spent time in political campaigns, political office, or corporate hierarchies, knows there is more than a little truth to Kissinger’s claim. If you hold power or have access to it you are attractive, or at least more attractive than you would be without it. You can feel it and you can use it, and you may do foolish things for fear of losing it. The hunger for it is strong enough to suck away your courage.
Kissinger’s insight gives us, perhaps, a better understanding about how Biden got away with running again when he was so obviously impaired. (You want to kill an aphrodisiac? Talk about your prostate cancer.)
The wound has been reopened with the publication of Original Sin, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. It is the supposedly shocking story of how Biden’s mental and physical maladies were covered up. (What’s really shocking is how Tapper is hawking his own book on his own CNN show and then also covering it as major news, just a bit like Trump selling meme coins from the White House. Yes, in behalf of all authors, I’m jealous!)
And now the revelation that Biden has Stage 4 prostate cancer is leading to further recriminations that he was hiding his declining health both from the public and from his fellow Democrats.
The basic argument is that those in the know knew that Biden was growing more and more feeble during his presidency and covered up the growing problems by keeping him out of the public eye. As a result, Biden and his team pressed for his reelection, while virtually no one in the Democratic Party resisted publicly, even as polls repeatedly showed that a majority of Democratic voters thought Biden was too old to run again.
Why didn’t the Democrats do something about this obvious train wreck in the making? Why didn’t Bernie, AOC, Elizabeth Warren and other congressional progressives call this process into question so there would be time to select a new candidate through primaries? Why didn’t Governors Pritzker and Newsom, along with other presidential hopefuls, say something—anything—to the American public?
The current crop of answers goes something like this: Biden was protected by his “Polit Bureau” of close advisors, as Democrats labeled them. Those in government who were in contact with Biden always reported that he was sharp and fit because he was only made available during his good times. In short, it was largely his advisor’s fault, including his wife Jill, who failed the party and American democracy by protecting him from more scrutiny. And perhaps, more importantly, it was Biden’s foolish ego that pushed him to hold onto power until it was too late.
Much of that may be true, but it’s inadequate. Kissinger’s aphrodisiac explanation goes deeper.
The presidency is the ultimate source of power in American politics. How could anything match being the leader of the free world, the Commander in Chief of the largest military arsenal in history, and the single person who can control U.S. laws and legislation, from the bully pulpit, by executive order, or with a veto? Everyone wants to kiss your ring.
The president has that power. Power for most everyone else (except for the Supreme Court justices, when they show some spine) is largely derivative. As a result, those who have access to the president are far more powerful than those who do not. Gaining presidential access and then holding on to it is the next best aphrodisiac.
Progressives in Congress—like Sanders, AOC, and Warren—believed they had great influence over Biden and his agenda. There was the repeated bluster that Biden was the most pro-working-class president since FDR. Big ideas, like the Green New Deal, gained Biden’s support, and progressives were often in the center of the action, passing progressive legislation and regulations (even when ambushed by Sens. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema).
Had they dared to question Biden’s re-election run, it is likely, very likely, they would have lost their access in a hurry. That threat no doubt quieted their tongues. Proximity to power may even have led them to ignore Biden’s decline, to avoid seeing it, and even to choose not to think about it. The power-high can do that and more.
What about the presidential hopefuls? They are hungry for the fullest dose of the power aphrodisiac. If they challenged Biden and his incumbent advantage in 2024 and failed, they might never get another chance at that ultimate high. The Biden supporters among Democratic elites, especially, would never forgive them for stepping into the race. And if Biden beat them in the primaries, and then lost to Trump, or if they beat Biden and then lost to Trump, they would get blamed, and their lofty political ambitions would be quashed. Just calling Biden out, without challenging him in the primaries, would get them nowhere but down. Just ask Dean Phillips.
But if they sat back and let Biden win, or fail on his own, then the 2028 would be wide open. Their choice wasn’t that hard. The safest path to power was to bide their time.
Unfortunately, that political pragmatism and surrender to the aphrodisiac might turn out to be enormously problematic for the Democrats. It’s not a given that Trump’s scorched earth policies will flip the House back to the Democrats in 2026, and the Senate map is a particularly tough one for the Democrats. The Biden debacle has voters questioning why Democrats remained dead silent even as the rest of the country could see plainly that Biden was too old to govern.
That silence now leads to more questions about the timing of Biden’s cancer diagnosis. Did he release this information to turn media coverage away from the new book’s revelations? How could he not know of his ailment while he was president, given that he had the best health care support in the country, if not the world?
All this adds to the stains on the Democratic brand and further undermines their credibility, which already is severely tarnished among working-class voters.
As this story festers, it might be a good time for progressives to question their lifelong strategy of rebuilding the Democratic Party into an instrument of working-class justice. Maybe, just maybe, they should concede that task is doomed to failure. Most Democratic Party officials do not want to be the defenders of the working class. Most, in fact, are content to work hand-in-hand with their wealthy donors who have gained their riches by siphoning wealth away from working people.
Instead, it might be time to have a serious discussion about what it will take to build a new working-class political formation, possibly a new party, even if it is going to take a decade and maybe longer to come to fruition.
The billionaires have two political parties. We need one of our own—one that is not intoxicated by the enfeebling lust for power.
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