Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) campaigned alongside Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson in Portland, Maine, this week, defending him two days after he told Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to “shut up” during their final debate.
Asked about the viral exchange at the rally, Warren told reporters that Jackson is “not a polished politician” but that “the people of Maine know who he is, and that’s what matters.”
Jackson has not apologized for the remark. When pressed on it three days after the debate, he instead said Collins had “talked down” to him, suggesting she bore responsibility for the exchange.
Collins called Jackson’s refusal to walk back the comment “very telling.”
A campaign shaped by controversy
Jackson entered the race after the collapse of Graham Platner’s campaign. Platner, the earlier Democratic frontrunner, dropped out after being accused of sexual assault by a former girlfriend. That came months after revelations of a Nazi tattoo and past bigoted and misogynistic online posts, controversies that Warren had previously brushed past.
At an April event with Platner, Warren praised him as “my kind of man,” telling the crowd, “I said to myself, ‘That’s my kind of man.’ That is a man who believes in accountability, and we need a little accountability coming out of Washington right now.” When later confronted about Platner’s past statements, Warren argued he had apologized and had changed.
Jackson, the former Maine Senate president, has his own history of controversy. Reports have surfaced that he once became so angry during a legislative meeting that he threw a water bottle, striking a female legislator.
With Election Day two weeks away, the Maine Senate race between Jackson and Collins remains one of the most closely watched contests in the country.
