Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson will launch a series of public town halls Tuesday in Lewiston, part of a campaign strategy aimed squarely at Republican Sen. Susan Collins and what Jackson says is her unwillingness to face Maine voters in traditional town-hall settings.
But Jackson’s invitation for Mainers to ask questions may also create an opportunity for voters, and reporters, to press the former Maine Senate president on controversies and questions that have followed him throughout his campaign.
Jackson is scheduled to hold additional town halls Thursday in Gorham and Saturday in Jay. His campaign says Collins has been invited to attend and take questions alongside him.
Jackson has criticized Collins for favoring smaller constituent meetings over traditional open town halls, saying his first Lewiston event will be “one more than Susan Collins has done in the last 25 years.”
Collins, however, has already accepted invitations to four televised debates this fall, including forums hosted by NewsCenter Maine, Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald; WGME; WABI and WAGM; and WMTW. Her campaign has proposed holding the first debate during the first full week of September.
Jackson has not yet committed to those four proposed debates and instead has pushed for at least two debates to take place in a town-hall format where Maine voters would directly ask the questions.
That could raise a simple question heading into Tuesday’s Lewiston event: If Jackson wants Mainers asking questions, which questions is he prepared to answer?
Among the most persistent involve Jackson’s residency and the taxpayer-funded travel and lodging payments he received while serving in the Legislature.
Jackson has long maintained that Allagash is his permanent home. But in 2019, while serving as Senate president, Jackson and his longtime partner purchased a home in Augusta roughly two miles from the State House using an FHA-backed mortgage that required the property to serve as their principal residence.
Jackson continued identifying Allagash as his residence for legislative purposes.
Public records previously obtained by The Maine Wire showed Jackson received more than $160,000 in legislative reimbursements and allowances between 2019 and 2023, including payments associated with mileage, lodging and legislative travel.
The distinction is important: not all of that money represented mileage reimbursements, and some payments were legislative allowances rather than expenses requiring receipts.
Still, the amounts increased significantly after Jackson purchased the Augusta property.
Jackson received $17,128.11 in legislative reimbursements and allowances in 2019, followed by $33,876.78 in 2020, $31,500.17 in 2021 and $40,554.22 in 2022.
A 2023 complaint asked the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to investigate Jackson’s residency filings. The commission ultimately voted unanimously to take no further action.
Jackson told state officials that Allagash remained his home and that he attempted to return there on weekends while the Legislature was in session.
But the commission’s decision did not establish how frequently Jackson actually traveled between Augusta and Allagash, leaving a question that remains relevant as he campaigns for federal office: How many of the taxpayer-funded trips did he actually make?
Jackson could also face questions about incidents from his past that resurfaced shortly after he became the Democratic nominee.
A 1988 Fort Kent police report obtained by the Bangor Daily News documented an incident in which Jackson, then 19, broke down a door and assaulted another man. Jackson has acknowledged the assault and said he took responsibility for it at the time.
The same police report said Jackson’s longtime partner, Lana Pelletier, told an officer Jackson had “pushed her around” after the confrontation and that she planned to seek cease-harassment papers.
Jackson strongly denies ever being violent toward Pelletier or any woman. Pelletier has also disputed the account contained in the police report, saying she does not remember making the statement attributed to her and that it was inaccurate.
The Maine Wire subsequently interviewed Jackson’s cousin Kim McBreairty, who alleged that he witnessed Jackson slap Pelletier with an open hand outside a business in St. Francis years ago.
The Maine Wire has not independently corroborated McBreairty’s allegation, and no known criminal finding resulted from the incident he described. Jackson has broadly denied allegations that he has ever been violent toward his longtime partner.
Jackson’s more than two decades in Augusta also leaves substantial policy questions.
He has built his U.S. Senate campaign around an argument that Maine’s political and economic status quo is failing working families.
But Jackson served multiple terms in the Maine House and Senate, including years as Senate president, placing him near the center of state policymaking during much of the period he now criticizes.
That makes MaineCare oversight a particularly timely issue.
Maine has faced intense federal scrutiny over improper payments and potential fraud involving residential care, autism services and other publicly funded programs. Federal officials, including CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, have publicly questioned the reliability of documentation supporting some MaineCare payments.
For Jackson, the question is not whether he personally administered MaineCare. He did not.
The question is what legislative oversight occurred while he occupied one of the most powerful positions in Augusta, and whether lawmakers missed warning signs as taxpayer spending dramatically expanded.
Collins’ campaign is already trying to turn Jackson’s long State House tenure against him.
“It’s about time Troy Jackson starts answering questions from voters since he has a lot to answer for,” Collins campaign spokesperson Blake Collins told the Bangor Daily News, questioning what Jackson accomplished during his years in Augusta to make Maine more affordable.
Jackson’s campaign, meanwhile, argues Collins is the candidate avoiding voters.
Campaign spokesman Dan Gottlieb said Collins should answer for her record in Washington and accused her of siding too frequently with President Donald Trump.
Those arguments will almost certainly dominate Maine’s U.S. Senate race over the next two months.
But Tuesday’s Lewiston town hall offers something potentially more valuable than another round of campaign talking points.
Jackson says Maine voters deserve the opportunity to ask candidates direct questions.
On that point, he may be right.
The test now is whether the questions, including the difficult ones, actually get answered.
The Maine Wire title of this article should declare, Troy Jackson “NEEDS” (not ‘wants’) more questions from Maine voters, and potential Maine voters.
My questions to Troy Jackson .
“ Haven’t you done enough damage to Maine already ?
“ Why do you need to go to Washington and do more “
“ What’s up with your two front teeth ? “
Thank You .
Questions will be screened just as people trying to get into his fake town halls. Non-rabid Democrats need not apply!!
How did Mr. Jackson go from working in the wood harvesting industry to a puppet for private sector labor organizers and organized crime? Is there a connection with a legendary Democrat from Eagle Lake?
Troy Jackson does not appear intelligent enough for the US Senate – his speaking abilities are limited “workin” “servin”; in all his years of public service he has learned all the wrong lessons.
The town hall format should be avoided at all costs – Democrats are famous for theatrics from the audience that takes attention from the candidates. They just can’t behave.
“Why aren’t you in jail for mortgage fraud, seeing as how you’ve admitted it?”
“Do you support mandatory 10-year minimum jail terms for anyone convicted of defrauding U.S. taxpayers? If not, why not?”
“What made you hate America so much that you support policies that are objectively destroying America?”
“Does Israel have a right to exist?”
“Do you disavow racism in all forms, including d.e.i.?”
“How do you justify ripping off the taxpayers of Maine via your mileage reimbursement scam?”
“Will you actively support the deportation of every illegal alien convicted of a felony?”
That’s just a start.