PRESS RELEASE
JACKSON WINS SECOND DEBATE HOLDING COLLINS’ FEET TO FIRE ON CORRUPTION SCANDALS, COST FOR MAINERS
JACKSON: “When Donald Trump wants something, Senator Collins will not stop him, and when she doesn't stop him, it hurts Mainers.”
PORTLAND, ME — Tonight Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Troy Jackson won the second Maine Senate debate, highlighting the key difference between his record and Susan Collins’ record: Collins fights for Donald Trump, billionaires and big corporations — no matter how corrupt or shady — and her husband’s stock portfolio. Troy fights for Maine.
From his opening statement, Jackson put Collins’ corruption front and center — from the pay-to-play scandal involving allegations she steered federal contracts to a major donor, to new questions over millions in taxpayer dollars her committee secured for military vehicles while the company behind them poured money into her campaign. Jackson made clear: after 30 years in Washington, Collins’ power is working for her donors, not Maine.
Jackson also clearly showed what that’s meant for Mainers – the tax breaks she delivers to billionaires have meant health care costs skyrocket, directing taxpayer dollars to donors has meant Mainers have lost out, and funding another endless war without any oversight has only raised costs and boosted her husband’s investments.
Jackson offered a contrasting option: a government that works for working people.
Major moments of the night came as Jackson slammed Collins for voting with Trump 96% of the time and letting him take away her authority as a U.S. Senator and as Jackson exposed her for profiting off the Iran War.
“Troy Jackson won again tonight because he made clear while he answers to Mainers, Susan Collins answers to Donald Trump and her campaign donors – no matter what,” said campaign manager Hilary Barrett. “At the end of the day, Mainers should be able to trust that their government is working for them. Tonight, Troy made it clear why Mainers can’t trust Susan Collins at all and the cost that her corruption has had on everyday people while reminding voters of his record delivering for Mainers.”
TOP FIVE MOMENTS FROM TONIGHT’S DEBATE:
1) Jackson lays out the pay-for-play corruption scheme Collins was caught in
Jackson: “Right up until 2025, the FBI was circling around Senator Collins. There are payments, there's emails, there's meetings, and then whenever Donald Trump got elected, he made the investigation go away. Now Senator Collins is voting with Donald Trump 96% of the time. Senator Collins talks about a crook — Donald Trump is a convicted felon, 34 felon[ie]s. She has no problem doing his bidding on that.”
2) Jackson slams Collins for voting with Trump 96% of the time and letting him take away her authority as a U.S. Senator
Jackson: “She's voted 100 times against Trump when it didn't matter. [..] Not stopping the war in Iran, tariffs — that is the problem. That when Donald Trump wants something, Senator Collins will not stop him, and when she doesn't stop him, it hurts Mainers.”
3) Jackson held Collins accountable for voting for the Iran war and then profiting off of it
Jackson: “Look what's happening because of the Iran War. [...] She could have stopped it. She's the chair of appropriations [...] She still could do something — she could use her leverage to stop this war. But instead, they're making money. Senator Collins and her husband are making money off of this war, [...] and that's why this doesn't stop.”
4) Jackson compares his record on reproductive rights with Susan Collins’: His record has gotten better, hers has gotten worse
Jackson: “I made sure that Maine has some of the most progressive reproductive rights bills in the country. [...] I'm sure Senator Collins is going to bring this up, but you know, our records have changed. I mean, mine has gotten better. Hers has gotten worse. She's made sure that I think she's put 55 anti-abortion judges onto the courts, including Brett Kavanaugh, that she knew that he was anti-abortion and that was what he was going to do when he got there, and he did. And look, me and women begged her; they drove all the way to D.C. to actually beg her not to do that because they knew what Brett Kavanaugh was going to do. And then after she voted to put him on there, and she was the deciding vote. He took away Roe v. Wade.”
5) Collins again touts road salt while Jackson asks about all the other tariffs she’s left in place
Jackson: “How about all the other tariffs that are on? How much money is that going to cost the town of Presque Isle, the town of Frenchville, all the people that work in the farming, fishing and forestry industry? [...] That's what's actually going to cost people. And again, she didn't answer your question. It should have been that yes, there [are] ways that appropriations could have done something. She has the purse; she could have used it against Donald Trump in another way until he got off of this blanket tariff foolishness.”
And one for the road… Jackson reminds voters what his campaign is all about – fighting for everyday working people, not the billionaires and not Donald Trump.
Jackson: “What it is about is Donald Trump and Susan Collins and the band that are making life so much harder in the state. [...] I mean, that's what this campaign is about. It's about people that know that this government is fundamentally flawed, and Susan Collins won't do anything about it.”
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