Republican attack ads mocking Troy Jackson’s relationship roil Maine Senate race against Susan Collins

Maine's tight Senate contest has turned bitter in its closing stretch, as Republican-aligned advertising targets Democratic nominee Troy Jackson's family life. The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Republican super PAC in Senate races, aired a radio spot styled as a song that crudely insults Jackson over his partner, Lana Pelletier, whom Sen. Susan Collins and GOP allies describe as his second cousin. The Jackson campaign has not answered questions on whether that is accurate. The group has also run a television spot calling Jackson a "creep" and a second radio ad pointing to a 2022 cell tower built on land owned by Pelletier's parents, according to CNN.

Collins campaign spokeswoman Blake Kernen said the senator wanted the radio ad pulled immediately. Jackson's team counters that Collins started the matter in a September Politico interview, when she said she would not raise the relationship. Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb accused her of spreading the attacks. Pelletier, a social worker from Allagash, responded in a Bangor Daily News column, saying her children and family had been dragged in. University of Maine professor Mark Brewer called the ad unprecedented locally.

Polls show no clear leader, and both candidates are courting women voters.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →