maria mb18 ⚾️💙🧡

Maine’s new senator showed up to Washington in an $89.99 suit off the rack from Target — and it tells you everything about who just got elected, and the populist story behind this election. Troy Jackson posted a selfie on the Capitol steps this week holding his U.S. Senate folder. People zoomed in on his sleeve, spotted the Haggar label, and tracked it down to Target. It fits. Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from Allagash, Maine. His mom was 16 when he was born. He spent years working 80-hour weeks in the woods, and he got into politics fighting for loggers’ pay. He wasn’t even supposed to be on the ballot. He stepped in with about 100 days to go and beat Susan Collins, who had held that seat since 1997. The Senate is a millionaires’ club. People whose last job before politics was blue-collar have never held more than about 2% of the seats in Congress. Most of the people writing laws about your wages have never had to live on one. Jackson is a longtime Bernie Sanders ally. He ran Bernie’s Maine operation in 2016, and Bernie campaigned with him across the state this fall. He’s going to Washington to fight for Medicare for All, protect and expand Social Security, back unions, and make billionaires pay their fair share. A senator who knows what a paycheck actually buys. In a $90 suit.