A liberal lumberjack may soon be Maine's Democrat Senate nominee. Who's Troy Jackson?

Jackson, who comes from a rural logging family, could take on Susan Collins.

After 30 years in office, Republican Sen. Susan Collins thought she was going to take on Democrat Graham Platner, a political outsider and oyster farmer from Maine's coast, in the state's closely watched Senate race in November.

Instead, Platner dropped out amid scandal, and it is now all but certain that Collins will soon be challenged by Troy Jackson, a Maine political veteran and logger who hails from the same northern county as the sitting senator.

Maine Democrats are holding a 601-delegate party convention this Saturday to officially choose a candidate.

"He's a genuine Mainer, authentically rural Maine, and I think that really helps," Dan Shea, a Colby College professor of government, said of Jackson in an interview with ABC News. "Mainers are skeptical of candidates from away."

Jackson was a prominent supporter of Platner and rallied with him in Bar Harbor shortly before the June Senate primary. At the time, Jackson was running in Maine's Democratic gubernatorial primary and was introduced on stage as "the next governor."

Yet in the weeks following the Bar Harbor rally, everything changed for both Jackson and Platner.

Jackson lost the gubernatorial primary in a tight race against several candidates. Platner won his Senate primary but was subsequently accused by a former girlfriend of sexual assault, an allegation he's denied. Jackson then called on Platner to drop out of the Senate race.

"There is no place in our politics for sexual violence," Jackson in a statement at the time.

A day after Platner said he was suspending his campaign, Jackson announced that he was considering running to replace him. Although several Democrats also launched campaigns, four recently dropped out after it became clear that most delegates scheduled to attend the nominating convention support Jackson.

Jackson could officially become the Democratic nominee this Saturday, once again setting the stage for a race that could help shape control of the Senate.

"It's going to be a very tight and tense race for three months," Shea said.

On the surface, Jackson appears to have commonalities with Platner.

They both have similar progressive political views, can often be seen without a suit and tie, and have frequently touted their appeal to blue collar voters.

Jackson attended his local public high school in the small town of Allagash near the Canadian border and was the class salutatorian when he graduated in 1986, according to state government records.

The Canadian border has long had an in