On January 21s the anniversary of the 2010 Citizens United ruling permitting corporations to spend unlimited funds to influence elections, gubernatorial candidate and former State Senate President Troy Jackson (D) announced he was taking the People’s Pledge and appealed to all other Democratic candidates to do the same. Not one has accepted his challenge. Jackson remains the only candidate swearing off corporate and dark money in the primary race for Governor.

In 2024, Maine voters loudly approved — with 74% — a citizen’s referendum limiting independent expenditures in Maine races by political action committees (PACs) to $5,000.

While that effort continues to be battled in court, it is on candidates to earn the trust of voters by forswearing dark money of their own accord. Currently that trust is slim-to-none for too many of them.

It is known that Nirav Shah is supported by the super PAC 314 Action, which moved $1.7 million from AIPAC to a pro-Israel Congressional candidate to defeat a candidate speaking out against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Hannah Pingree and Angus King, III are heavily reliant on out-of-state donations, with the most recent campaign filing reports showing a whopping 47% and 65% of their campaign funds coming from outside of Maine, respectively. Maine needs a Governor that has been chosen by Mainers.

With individuals limited to contributing $2,075 to primary campaigns, candidates who won’t commit to rejecting unlimited corporate and dark money on their behalf or against their opponents are sending the message that they are willing to turn the big dogs loose against small donors’ relatively miniscule ability to wage a money war. This is the antithesis of the spirit of Maine’s beloved Clean Elections system, it is not democracy, and it raises the question of how vulnerable to corporate influence those candidates would be as Governor. 

Media coverage of Jackson’s challenge has stated he would only abide by the pledge if his opponents did. That is a misleading oversimplification.

In responding to my inquiry, Jackson asserted that his campaign is “not taking dark money in any situation”. The second part of his challenge to the other candidates, and which Jackson will only abide by if the other candidates do, is that if dark money is spent against any of their opponents in a manner supportive of the candidate, they would then donate the same amount from their campaign to the Democratic Party. This would neutralize the effects of outside spending and increase the power of small donations.

A number of candidates have stated they support campaign finance reform, yet none are willing to put their money where their mouth is. One campaign stated they would not take the pledge because it was “unenforceable”, a weak and hardly convincing excuse indicating a cynical distrust of their Democratic colleagues. Do we want leadership that says they support such a vital thing as getting big money out of politics yet won’t put that support into action?

Maine’s next governor will need to address numerous crises and issues our state is facing including health care, housing, wages, energy costs, tribal sovereignty, immigration, our tax structure, and more. The extent to which they can be swayed by corporate pressure will determine how effectively they will meet those challenges in a true and sustainable way. 

Troy Jackson has a solid, undeniable record of doing what he says he’ll do and of showing his immunity to lobbyists and corporate demands, his words made meaningful by action and the willingness to risk “failure” in the name of fairness and doing right by everyday Mainers. If we want anything to really change, we must elect those candidates who show by their actions that they will only be anointed by and beholden to the people. Troy Jackson is the only one who has earned my trust that he will be that kind of Governor.

Carla White lives in South Thomaston