Troy Jackson launches his first general election ad in Maine Senate race, criticizing Susan Collins

FIRST ON NBC NEWS2028 election2028 electionTroy Jackson launches his first general election ad in Maine Senate race, criticizing Susan CollinsThe seven-figure ad campaign highlights the Democrat’s background as a labor organizer and attacks incumbent Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins. It’s slated to begin running next week.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson is launching his first statewide general election ad backed by a seven figure buy next week.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleAug. 1, 2026, 1:17 PM EDTBy Sahil KapurMaine’s Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson is launching his first general election ad, highlighting his own background as a labor organizer and going after Republican Sen. Susan Collins.The 30-second spot, narrated by Jackson, is backed by a seven-figure buy slated to begin airing statewide next week, his campaign told NBC News on Saturday.“I’m a fifth-generation logger and the son of a public school teacher. My dad would work 16-hour days, and that still wasn’t enough. So when they tried to replace us with foreign labor, I led a blockade of the border,” Jackson says in the ad. “Susan Collins didn’t help us then, and she’s certainly not helping us now. We’re all getting crushed out here. Health care, housing, heat.”“We’ve gotta fight back. We’re all hungry for it. Maine is ready for a change,” Jackson concludes.The new ad points to Jackson’s strategy against Collins: paint her as a part of an establishment that is failing struggling Mainers.It comes one week after Jackson accepted his party’s nomination for the seat at a convention in Bangor, replacing Graham Platner, who won the June primary but dropped out after a former girlfriend’s allegation of sexual assault, which he denied.Collins, who was first elected in 1996, is running for a sixth term. She is campaigning as a moderate who brings money home to Maine, pointing to her chairmanship of the Appropr...