Maine Democrats Stand by Senate Nominee Amid Cousin Bombshell and 1988 Assault Report

Democratic leaders are closing ranks around Maine Senate nominee Troy Jackson even as fresh revelations batter his campaign. Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile is dismissing reports that Jackson fathered two children with his second cousin -- and a resurfaced 1988 police report accusing him of assault -- as "salacious gossip."

The race is one of the most closely watched in the country, with Republican Sen. Susan Collins defending a seat she has held since 1997 and control of the Senate potentially on the line. Democrats are betting they can hold the line behind Jackson no matter what surfaces.

Brazile: 'There Are So Many Lies'

Brazile, who led the Democratic National Committee on an interim basis in 2011 and again in 2016, waved off the mounting questions when asked about reports that Jackson shares two children with his second cousin and longtime partner, Lana Pelletier.

"There's a lot of people who are doing a lot of gossip as news, and I don't want to break news that might not be true -- especially on something so personal -- that's not what I do," Brazile said.

She insisted she knows little about the candidate himself. "I don't know anything about Mr. Jackson," she said. "There are so many lies. I don't really want to comment on salacious gossip -- innuendos." She added that the race will be one of the most competitive in the country and "we'll all be watching in the fall."

The cousin reporting traced Pelletier's father as a cousin of Jackson's mother, making the couple second cousins by blood. Jackson has never directly denied the claim that the mother of his children is his cousin.

1988 Police Report Resurfaces

The cousin story is no longer the only problem. A 1988 police report from Fort Kent has resurfaced showing Jackson kicked in a door, choked a man by the throat and punched him in the face during an altercation over Pelletier. The same report says Pelletier told officers that Jackson "pushed her around."

Jackson acknowledged the decades-old incident. "I took responsibility for the fight then, and I take responsibility for it now," he said.

Pelletier disputed the statements attributed to her in the report. "I do not remember making the statements attributed to me and they are not accurate," she said. "This is the first time I have seen this report from 40 years ago. Troy and I have built a life and family together and I know the person he has been through the decades since, both as a caring partner and father."

A Scandal-Plagued Path to the Ballot

Jackson's nomination was itself a scramble. The Democrat he replaced, Graham Platner, won the June primary in a landslide but was forced out of the race in July after an ex-girlfriend accused him of sexual assault -- the final blow in a candidacy already battered by reports of sexting, a Nazi-symbol tattoo and years of volatile behavior. Platner denied the allegation but withdrew just in time for party leaders to name a replacement.

Jackson won the nod with 94 percent of the delegate vote in July, and Democrats hoped the chaos was behind them. Instead, Jackson brought baggage of his own, including a history of accusations of hostility toward female colleagues in the Maine Senate -- incidents that included banging on a table, getting in the face of a fellow lawmaker, screaming at another and throwing a water bottle during a 2021 argument.

Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci was blunt. "Troy Jackson is an angry, violent man who has revealed himself to be Platner 2.0 in every way -- right down to roughing up his girlfriends," she said.

Collins Camp and the Race Ahead

Jackson's campaign has blamed the Collins team for the cousin story, calling it a "shameful and desperate" personal attack. "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," the campaign said.

For conservatives, Collins offers a reliably pro-Trump vote in a state that has grown increasingly hostile to Republicans, and recent polling shows the race locked in a dead heat despite the controversies. Democrats are gambling that voters will focus on the matchup rather than the nominee's personal history.

The question now is whether more revelations are coming. Jackson's refusal to directly address the cousin claim -- combined with Democrats' stated refusal to engage with the story at all -- leaves the party in an unusual position: a nominee under siege, a leadership publicly pretending not to see it, and a Senate majority potentially hanging on the outcome.

Both sides are watching closely as the fall campaign shifts into high gear. If anything else from Jackson's past surfaces, the Democratic strategy of looking the other way may get a lot harder to sustain.