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Former aides to President Barack Obama discussed divisions among Maine Democrats over the party’s troubled U.S. Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, with a warning to Democrats to “get over your s—.”
Maine’s Senate race has drawn national attention after Democrats replaced their initial candidate, Graham Platner, due to sexual assault allegations against him. His replacement, Troy Jackson, has faced controversies of his own.
Even so, Obama, the former boss of the “Pod Save America” hosts, recently released an endorsement video urging Maine voters not to sit out the election. The hosts discussed why Obama might have chosen that message.
Former Obama strategist Dan Pfeiffer told his co-hosts that “it is true, and we have — this has been sort of mysterious to both of us — that there are a significant number of people in Maine who seem not to like Troy Jackson, including some Democrats.”
DEM WHO ABANDONED PLATNER AFTER SEX ASSAULT CLAIM NOW SCRAMBLES FOR HIS VOTERS
Howard Daniel “Dan” Pfeiffer was a White House senior advisor for former President Barack Obama. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Yeah,” former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau agreed. “That’s my biggest worry.”
Pfeiffer offered his assessment of the feuds between Democrats, saying, “And, so I think a little whether there are people who supported Platner who didn’t like Platner being gone or the process by which we got here, or people who were supporting Mills who don’t like any of this and Mills and Jackson do not like each other. And as of, like, two weeks ago, Mills had not endorsed Jackson and Jackson had not asked for the endorsement.
“Everyone get over your s—, and let’s try to win this race.
“I think there is some sense or fear, maybe, that some of the people who are not enthusiastic about Jackson for some reason because of how this process played out may sit out and so just like ‘get in here, get in the fight,’” Pfeiffer added of Obama’s video.
“I don’t know if that’s a real concern or not, but if I was trying to find a reason why that line would be in there, that would be it.”
“Yeah, I would say to all the Maine Democrats out there, I know it’s been a rough one, but look to Michigan,” Favreau said. “They had an extremely divisive primary, and you had Gretchen Whitmer … out there with Abdul [El-Sayed] this week.
“Haley Stevens has been saying great things,” he continued, noting Democrats in Michigan have been coming together after initially being divided.
“And I really wish — I do think that Troy Jackson would probably benefit from more Maine Democrats and national Democrats kind of, you know, because, like, Maine is the kind of state that, again, it wants to go Democratic,” Favreau added.
“They want — those voters want a Democratic Senate. That’s what they’re telling.
“Even The New York Times poll that showed Collins ahead, you had people — most people — wanting a Democratic Senate,” he said.
“So, like, I feel like the Democrats there just have to be reminded that, like, this is our guy, and this is our ticket to a Democratic Senate and not a Republican Senate.”
MAINE DEMOCRATS CROWN TROY JACKSON AS PLATNER REPLACEMENT AS FRESH SCRUTINY CLOUDS SENATE RESET
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, left, and Troy Jackson stand together during a Fighting Oligarchy tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine, May 24, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Democratic strategist Julian Epstein told Digital, “Socialist revolutionaries all seem to be a little bit weird for one reason or another. Going MIA here, a Nazi tattoo there, refusing to denounce terrorists. Marry this with the mainstreaming in the Democratic Party of this lust for the centralized, command and control economic decision-making and the further expansion of a welfare state that is completely broke and headed towards a kind of complete breakdown that mimics Europe’s current dysfunction.
“The political and consultant class doesn’t seem to care about these things,” he continued. “They always find a way to rationalize. To them, it’s less about principle and more about power. If these revolutionary candidates don’t win, it means less power and money for the left and its apparatchiks. It seems like it’s just about power at any cost these days. The Beltway money barge has a strange way of warping the sensibilities.”
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Former state Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Maine, has been nicknamed “Graham Platner 2.0” after having his own controversies that emerged amid his electoral bid. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jesse Arm, vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, said the Obama administration alumni were coping.
“The ‘Pod Save America’ bros are just struggling to cope,” he told Digital. “Susan Collins is overperforming because Maine voters know she’s a sensible moderate who calls balls and strikes.
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“Collins has been an independent maverick throughout her career, and Maine voters appreciate that about her.”
