Troy Jackson never wanted to be a U.S. senator, and his first debate against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) proved it.

Jackson is the Democrat canddate who replaced Graham Platner in Maine, and past reports made clear the job was never on his wish list. The New Yorker reported that Jackson "initially didn't expect or desire the nomination." Another report revealed that he "never really wanted to run for the Senate." He had run for governor in 2026 and only jumped into the Senate race after Platner's campaign collapsed. Jackson later explained that he felt compelled to step in so the far-left movement and its supporters wouldn't lose momentum.

That lack of heart was on full display at the candidates' first debate on Tuesday.

Jackson, a former logger and former Maine state Senate president, leaned on a thick white binder of notes, which I'm shocked was even allowed. He glanced at it during his opening statement, went back to it on topics anyone could have seen coming, and at times shuffled through its pages. Collins appeared to have only a small folder, which she referenced a couple of times. This was the first of four debates, and both candidates are reportedly expected to go without notes on Thursday.

That should be fun to watch.

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Collins crushed Jackson by exposing his thin legislative record, while he showed a lack of polish. She saved her one prepared question for the résumé he's running on.

"In your more than 20 years in the legislature, more than one third of your bills were unanimously rejected in committee," Collins said. "You couldn't even find one Democrat on the committee to support a third of your bills."

Her follow-up was her strongest moment of the night.

"If you can't find one person in your own party to vote for your bills when you were the Senate president in Maine, how do you think you're going to get things done in a closely divided Senate as the most junior senator?" she asked.

Collins spent the rest of the evening reminding voters what seniority buys them. As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she cited $1.5 billion in federal funds for 672 projects in the last five years, "from Madawaska to Kittery, from Eastport to Rumford." A reporter covering the debate noted that she opened with projects she has delivered, from fire stations to better roads, and that even Maine Democrats admitted over the summer that they respect her ability to bring investment home. That goes a long way toward explaining her staying power.

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Jackson predictably went after Collins over her vote for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and she answered by going right back to his record in the state legislature.

"If you look at the policies that have driven up the cost of living in Maine, you have to look at Augusta," Collins said. "Maine has the fourth-highest electricity rates in the country. It has some of the highest housing costs in the entire country. It has extraordinarily high property taxes. Those are all due to Augusta's failed policies under the failed leadership of Troy Jackson."

Jackson is not an inspiring candidate, and he has put his foot in his mouth more than once. He ducked the question when asked whether he is a socialist, and he is out of step on voter ID, which a wide majority of Americans support.

Democrats likely need to flip Maine to have any chance of taking the Senate, and polls show the race basically tied. But here's the problem for them: past polling in Collins' races often had Democrats up several points before she won handily.

A tie suggests Jackson is in trouble, and being an unmotivated candidate won't help.