Steven Rowe is a lawyer who lives in Portland. He is an Army veteran and former Maine attorney general.
I support Troy Jackson for the U.S. Senate. I have known Troy for more than 20 years. He is a salt-of-the-earth kind of person — smart, honest and hardworking. He served three terms as president of the Maine Senate and worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Maine people.
However, there is another very important reason to send Troy Jackson to the U.S. Senate. That is to end Republican control of the Senate and help put the brakes on Donald Trump’s corrupt, turbulent and divisive presidency.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution would be horrified by Trump’s actions as president. Having just fought a war against a king’s authority and tyranny, they were suspicious of executive power. That’s why they placed Congress first in the Constitution and assigned more powers to it than to the presidency.
The system of checks and balances in the Constitution gave Congress specific powers to limit, oversee and hold the president accountable. The framers intended Congress to be the central law-making body to which the executive and judicial branches would respond. Congress would write and debate the laws that govern the nation and could override presidential vetoes.
The framers gave the Senate the exclusive authority to approve or reject the president’s choices for federal judges, cabinet members and top officers. The framers required the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” and to “abide by, protect, and defend the Constitution and the laws of our nation.”
Over the past two years, Senate Republicans have abdicated their constitutional duty and have done little more than serve as a rubber stamp for Trump’s authoritarian, regressive, cruel and often self-serving agenda.
For example, Senate Republicans supported Trump’s draconian cuts to healthcare, food assistance and education; changes to the tax code disproportionately benefiting corporations and high-income earners; mass deportation policies involving workplace and community raids; dismantling of environmental, labor and consumer protections; and starting a Middle East war without a clear purpose or strategy for ending it.
Moreover, Senate Republicans confirmed cabinet members and judges who were clearly unqualified (e.g., Hegseth, Kennedy). While Sen. Susan Collins occasionally voted against a Trump proposal or nominee, she did so often when her vote was not needed by her Republican caucus.
However, it’s critical to understand that if Collins is reelected in November, her mere presence in the next U.S. Senate will likely give Republicans majority control. Let me say that again. If Collins is reelected, her presence alone will likely mean a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.
That will mean, among other things, that Republicans will continue to control the legislative agenda and have committee chairs and majority membership on all committees, as well as the ability to advance federal judges and cabinet secretaries with a simple majority.
And it will mean that the Senate Republican caucus will continue to pass Trump’s authoritarian, aggressive and cruel agenda items.
It’s high time that all branches of our federal government return to honoring the Constitution and the rule of law, which holds that no one is above the law and everyone is treated equally by the law.
If you want to end President Trump’s control of the U.S. Senate, restore the rule of law and ensure that our federal government works for everyone, please join me in voting for Troy Jackson as Maine’s next U.S. senator.