Troy Jackson endorses Karl Marx-loving ex-DSA co-chair who implied Jesus was a communist

WASHINGTON — Maine Senate hopeful Troy Jackson this week endorsed a former Democratic Socialists of America co-chair who suggested Jesus was a communist and has characterized himself as a “revolutionary socialist” calling for the far-left to “overturn the system.” The former lumberjack threw his weight behind Portland City Council hopeful Todd Chretien, who had backed Jackson in both his gubernatorial and Senate bids, serving as a delegate for him at the slapdash convention after Platner dropped out.Chretien has been a scholar of socialism and far-left ideology, having previously written fondly of notorious father of communism, Karl Marx.“Marx was hardly the first critic of society, though, and he was not even the first communist.

Jesus of Nazareth was among the many to condemn ‘rich men’ long before Marx,” Chretien wrote in a 2018 piece for the SocialistWorker.org.“What makes Marx unique is that he was the first to propose a historically specific path for winning equality that combined defiance of oppression and exploitation with a social force potentially capable of replacing the elite,” he added.The aspiring city council hopeful also edited a book titled “Eyewitnesses of the Russian Revolution,” with insights from Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin.A member of the International Socialist Organization, Chretien described Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as having “relatively tame social-democratic beliefs” and predicted that many socialists were aspiring to a “more revolutionary reckoning with the system.”“Todd will stand up for working-class people in city hall.

That’s why I’m proud to support him and call him a friend,” Jackson said of Chretien in a recent endorsement.The two men have campaigned together frequently throughout the 2026 midterm election cycle, at one point, noting how the two men “share the same mission.”In addition to backing Chretien recently, Jackson appeared to reminisce over disgraced oyster farmer Gra...