Collins lights up internet with response to Dem challenger fathering children with relative: ‘Stone cold’

Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, left, is on a glidepath to replace ex-candidate Graham Platner as the Democratic Party’s Senate nominee in Maine and face off in the midterm elections against longtime Republican Sen.Susan Collins.(Ryan Murphy/Getty Images;Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Republican political operative Jesse Hunt reacted to a clip of the interview by calling Collins a “silent killer.”

“A less-than-2-minute precis of how Susan Collins is as stone-cold a political combatant as the Senate has ever seen,” Politico editor Mike DeBonis wrote on X.

National Rifle Association public affairs director and Maine native Justin Davis responded to the clip by predicting that “the upcoming debates aregoing to be gold.” NOTUS reporterIgor Bobic, meanwhile, said that Collins used a “Trump tactic” by bringing up a subject while pretending not to mention it.

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“Count Collins out (like everyone did in ‘20) at your own peril,” Targeted Victory CCO Matt Gormanposted on X.

“Susan Collins from the top rope on Troy Jackson,” GOP communicatorSteve Guest posted on X.

Reports about Jackson’s relationship with his second cousin first surfaced in July, when The Maine Wire reported that Jackson and his longtime partner share the same great-grandparents.

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MAINE DEMOCRATS CROWN TROY JACKSON AS PLATNER REPLACEMENT AS FRESH SCRUTINY CLOUDS SENATE RESET

Sen.Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025.(J.Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

“It’s truly hysterical how Democrats can’t seem to find one normal dude to run for office,” conservative commentator Greg Price posted on X, alluding to the fact that Jackson replacedGraham Platneron the ballot in Maine after he terminated his campaign amid a rape allegation.

Other aspects of Jackson’s personal life have come to the forefront of hisSenate campaign, including a1988 police reportwhich claims he assaulted a man at a bar.The report also states that his partner accused him of pushing her around.

Jackson does not dispute that heattacked another man, but strongly denies laying a hand on his partner, who has said she does not recall giving a statement to that effect to the police.

When asked about the police report in August,EMBATTLED MAINE DEMOCRAT DEADLOCKED WITH COLLINS DESPITE CONTROVERSIES IN KEY SENATE RACE, NEW POLL SHOWS

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Troy Jackson speaks as he became the Maine Democratic Party’s choice to be their U.S.Senate nominee to replace Graham Platner on the ballot in November on July 25, 2026, in Bangor, Maine.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

During her interview with Politico, Collins denied that Jackson would necessarily be an easier opponent than Platner, pointing out that the former has a long political record that he can be criticized over — something that Platner lacked as a political outsider.

Jackson has framed the GOP focus on his personal life as a distraction from the issues Mainers actually care about.

“Susan Collins will do anything to distract from the fact that she votes with Trump 96% of the time and has sold out working people in Maine,�“Personal attacks on Troy’s family are shameful and desperate.”

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