Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson fired back at Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Saturday after she mentioned in an interview earlier this week that the mother of Jackson’s two children is his second cousin.
“Senator Collins is going to attack, I mean she has been attacking, my personal life, my children, stuff like that, because her record sucks,” Jackson said while speaking with voters at a campaign stop in Wells. “And I wouldn’t be trying to defend my record if I was her, too.”
The Maine Wire reported in July that Jackson shares the same great-grandparents as his partner Lana Pelletier, with whom he has two sons. Collins noted this relationship in an interview with Politico that aired on Wednesday, saying, “I’m not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin.”
Jackson responded to the viral moment on Saturday by offering more information about the roots of his relationship with Pelletier and saying he, too, has personal information about Collins’s family. Though Jackson has not denied the reporting about the relationship, his campaign has maintained that the focus in the race should be on the policies impacting Mainers.
“Look, me and Lana have been together since I was in the fifth or sixth grade,” he said. “That’s who I love, and why I know it’s OK is because I have two unbelievable sons, and I wouldn’t have had them but for the fact that we’re together. But in the end, I would like to talk about the issues that are affecting people like this right here, as opposed to my family, and stuff like that. I know all kinds of stuff about Senator Collins’s family that I am not disclosing because I don’t think that means anything about this race. I think issues do, and let’s talk about those issues.”
The report about Jackson’s personal life surfaced just days after he was selected by Maine Democrats to replace Graham Platner on the ticket, whose campaign had been marred by allegations of sexual assault, since-deleted social media comments, and a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol. Democrats keen on retaking the upper chamber in November’s midterm elections have widely seen Maine as one such opportunity, given that President Donald Trump lost the state to former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
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The former state senate president made the comments after meeting with residents of the Blueberry Ridge Mobile Village in Wells to discuss affordable housing, according to the Portland Press Herald. Collins and Jackson have sparred throughout the race over Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the cost of living, and tax policy.
The two recently agreed to debate each other four times in October, though the formats have not yet been confirmed.