<div class="css-8nuh3b-print StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-155wybs-print"><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">Today he is a progressive Democrat calling for “Medicare for all,” the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a <a class="css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href="https://www.jacksonformaine.com/priorities" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">federal right to abortion</a>.</p><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">But Troy Jackson got his start in politics as a Republican who was opposed to abortion rights and same-sex marriage.</p><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">Mr. Jackson, who is poised to become his party’s new nominee for Senate in Maine after Graham Platner’s departure, has completed a remarkable evolution on social issues since he started organizing fellow loggers in the state’s northern tip in the 1990s.</p><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">As his political ambitions rose, Mr. Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate, kept pushing his economic populist message. But he shed many of the socially conservative positions that aligned with his rural district in favor of more liberal positions on abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-8nuh3b-print StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-155wybs-print"><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">After being given a perfect rating from an anti-abortion group early in his political career, Mr. Jackson more recently <a class="css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href="https://cdn.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/80/40/80406d8a-f09a-4297-922b-cd30a40e96ef/131st_legislature_full_scorecard.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">received a series</a> of <a class="css-bhdv0x-linkClass" href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/uploads/filer_public/07/d8/07d8ba09-238c-4983-9e80-9b6eb56d066c/2022_lege_scorecard_-_senate.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">100 percent ratings</a> from Planned Parenthood’s Maine chapter. In 2023, he helped enact a new Maine law that allows abortion at any stage of pregnancy, as long as a doctor deems it necessary.</p><p class="css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0">“I’ve made mistakes early on in understanding” the issue of abortion, he said on Monday in an interview with The New York Times. “Regardless of this U.S. Senate race, I’m really, really proud of how I’ve turned that around and, you know, done the right thing. I mean, I was wrong.”</p><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171d1bw"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1u67kh9" data-tpl="i" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-1blnbzz" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-1blnbzz" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-a9jwpz-visuallyHidden" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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