Sen. Susan Collins and Troy Jackson condemn use of attack ads in Maine’s Senate race
By Keenan Mills
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AUGUSTA, Maine (WMTW) — Both candidates running for the U.S. Senate in Maine condemned attack ads against each other on Wednesday.
Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins spent Wednesday morning campaigning with former Sen. Joe Manchin, a longtime Democrat from West Virginia who became an independent just months before departing the Senate in January 2025.
“This is a United States senator who basically is a Maine senator,” Manchin said. “She’s not a Trump senator. She’s not a Republican senator or a Democrat senator. She’s an American senator.”
Collins was asked about a recent radio advertisement that was paid for by the Senate Leadership Fund PAC.
The ad was to the tune of a song and included lyrics such as: “If he screws his own family, he’ll screw yours too.”
“Well, first of all, I had nothing to do with that ad, and I said that it should be taken down,” Collins said.
Collins said that she cannot legally contact the PAC. She added that she had nothing to do with the advertisement.
Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996. She said this race has not been like one she’s ever been involved with before.
“This campaign has been unique in Maine’s history, in the number of personal attacks,” Collins said. “I’ve been accused of all sorts of things.”
In Augusta, several women, many of whom worked with Jackson in the Maine Legislature, gathered to host a “Women for Troy” event.
The speakers pointed toward the radio ad along with a separate anti-Jackson television ad. They said that ad portrayed the former lawmakers as “victims and villains.”
According to the group, this wasn’t their experience with Jackson in Augusta.
“He lifted up the voices of women,” said former Democratic state lawmaker Rebecca Millett. “He appointed them into leadership positions. He trusted us with the important work of leading powerful committees and our colleagues.”
Many members of the group also spoke on the unique style of attack ads in the Senate race. Some also said the level of the advertisements was at a level they’ve never seen before.
“They can’t defend Susan Collins’ record, so they are resorting to personal attacks,” Millett said. “This TV ad and the disgusting radio ad that goes along with it reek of desperation. And it says a lot more about Sen. Collins and her backers than it says about Troy.”
Jackson wasn’t in attendance for Wednesday’s event. His campaign spokesperson Dan Gottlieb provided a statement in response to the radio advertisement.
In part, Gottlieb said in his statement: “If Collins believes these attacks are wrong, she owes Troy’s family an apology for spreading them herself and must take responsibility for her allies pushing the same personal attack on his family on TV right now.”
Maine Women’s Lobby also spoke at the event, publicly endorsing Jackson. Members of the lobby mentioned Jackson’s voting record and their approval of his work in childcare and the state’s paid family and medical leave program.
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