Augusta, Maine - Former Vice President Kamala Harris threw her endorsement behind Democrat Troy Jackson, who jumped into the US Senate race in Maine after Graham Platner's exit.
"I know what it is like to step up to the plate with a short runway to Election Day," Harris wrote in a fundraising email sent out to supporters on Monday.
"Troy will have just 101 days between his nomination for Senate and when voters in Maine will cast their ballots."
The endorsement comes only days after Jackson ascended to become Maine's Democratic candidate for the US Senate in November's midterm elections.
The former logger joined the race after ex-candidate Graham Platner pulled out of the contest in early July after an ex-partner accused him of drunkenly raping her in 2021.
A candidate whose campaign had already been marred by scandals – including an infamous Nazi tattoo – Platner's position quickly became untenable when dozens of high-profile supporters, such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, pulled their endorsements.
Jackson has picked up the mantle, posing himself as a similarly progressive candidate who's in favor of Medicare For All, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, increasing taxes on billionaires, and abolishing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A former president of the Maine Senate, Jackson ran an unsuccessful campaign to become the state's governor this year. Democrats are now reliant on him to take back control of the US Senate in November.
The result is yet another last-minute scramble to clinch an electoral victory, reminiscent of Harris' ill-fated run for the presidency in 2024.