Free Republic

Bangor, Maine – A protester interrupted the final debate between Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in Maine, triggering a heated exchange after Collins suggested the demonstrator was a Jackson supporter. The interruption came amid a debate that saw the candidates trade fire over numerous issues. The race between Jackson and Collins, who is seeking a sixth term representing the blue-leaning Northern New England state, is a top flip opportunity for Democrats as they try to win back the Senate majority from Republicans in the midterm elections. The latest public opinion polls indicate a race within the...

As president of the Maine Senate, Democrat Troy Jackson, now running for U.S. Senate as an opponent of "greedy corporations," cosponsored a bill allowing online lenders to skirt Maine's interest rate caps when offering small-dollar loans to borrowers with poor credit. A lobbying firm that employed Jackson's son supported the 2022 bill on behalf of a "predatory" lending company that was sued months earlier for violating consumer protection laws, a Washington Free Beacon review found. The bill, which Jackson and five other Maine Democrats introduced in February 2022, was framed as a measure to "Establish Consumer Protections Regarding Small Dollar...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of six senators on Sunday called for President Donald Trump’s administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia as part of an effort to lower high fuel prices. Trump shocked lawmakers when he announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call. He said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional...

More Republicans are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to let Vladimir Putin’s Russia temporarily export diesel fuel on the global market, expanding the bipartisan blowback over the deal. Six GOP senators joined six of their Democratic colleagues in a letter Tuesday urging Trump to cancel the arrangement allowing Russia to supply 4.8 million metric tons, or nearly 36 million barrels, of diesel through mid-April. “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded,” the lawmakers wrote. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Oklahoma’s Alan...

Former President Barack Obama came out in support of Troy Jackson’s Senate bid on Thursday after the candidate’s first debate with Susan Collins. “Troy Jackson is running to be your next Senator and I’m proud to be on board. In this economy, we need a fighter like Troy, a fifth-generation logger,” said Obama. “Now we need Troy to deliver for us in the Senate, so do not sit this one out. Get out there and vote for Troy Jackson,” he added. In the 50-second video, Obama repeated the claim that Jackson used to work 80-hour weeks logging and was still...

Planned Parenthood Votes will spend another $1 million on digital ads attacking Republican Senate candidates in Maine and Michigan, an outlay that boosts radical pro-abortion Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the race to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters. The super PAC affiliated with Planned Parenthood said the new buy targets Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and pro-life former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan. In Michigan, Rogers faces El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health official. In Maine, Collins is seeking a sixth term against former state Senate President Troy Jackson. The $1 million comes on top of $800,000 already spent on ads...

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that a Maine stop may be on his schedule, though he did not give a date. “I don’t know about Maine, I think we’re going to Maine too but we’re going to Michigan in a week and a half,” Trump said during a gaggle, according to the in-town pool report. Asked about mail-in voting, Trump said, “I’d rather have them vote in-person, but they can vote by mail if they want… a lot of people want to vote by mail, but a lot of very good people also want...

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine System (UMS) Board of Trustees voted Monday to accept a task force's recommendation to remove former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell's name from a building and a scholarship. On Jan. 30, the Department of Justice released millions of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Mitchell's name appears more than 300 times in those files. In 2019, Mitchell was mentioned as an associate of Epstein's in testimony from one of the financier's victims. Mitchell, however, was never directly linked to child sex abuse. Advertisement A spokesperson for Mitchell said the former...

Democratic Maine Senate hopeful Troy Jackson complained that Jewish residents of his state have been reluctant to label Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip a genocide, saying that hesitation was “only because they’re Jewish.”Jackson, who has faced pressure from his left flank to more forcefully condemn the Jewish state, made the comment Tuesday to Portland’s NBC affiliate. “It’s unfortunate that there are people here in Maine that don’t like to use that term only because they’re Jewish and what that means to them, with the Holocaust,” said Jackson, according to Jewish Insider. “[Israel’s war in Gaza] fits that...

A new poll indicates longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins is ahead of her Democratic challenger in a crucial Senate showdown in blue-leaning Maine. Collins, who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, stands at 49% support among likely voters, with former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee, at 46%, with 5% undecided in the New York Times/Siena poll. Collins' three-point edge is within the survey's margin of error. Democrats are heavily targeting Collins as they work to flip the seat, which is key to their efforts to win back the Senate majority from the Republicans...

A Customs and Border Protection supervisor assigned to the Maine-Canada border has been arrested and charged after FBI agents say he was caught on hidden camera tearing apart government computers, ripping out processors and memory, stuffing in cheaper parts, and plugging the machines back into CBP’s network. Terry “Jiajia” Liu, 39, of Calais, Maine, described himself as a native of Guangzhou, China. He worked as a CBP supervisor at the Calais Port of Entry, with duties stretching to the Ferry Point and Milltown crossings. CBP officers are required to be U.S. citizens. According to The Maine Wire, Liu has posted...

Poor Troy Jackson. He can’t buy a serious ticket to a U.S. Senate seat without first enduring a ribald ribbing on social media. X users were having more fun laughing over Troy’s marital partnership with his second cousin than attendees at an American Legion bean supper in Allagash, Maine pop. 240. After Maine Wire chief editor Steve Robinson reported that the former state senate president is attached to his second cousin, with whom he has two kids, all bets were off for X users. “His favorite dating app is 23AndMe,” PoliMath joked on X. “Sydney Sweeney eat your heart out,”...

…Allagash tipsters and genealogical records confirm that Troy Jackson’s longtime significant other, Lana Pelletier — his high school sweetheart and the mother of his two adult sons, Chace and Camden — is, in fact, his second cousin by blood. Jackson and Pelletier share the same great-grandparents: Thomas Pelletier and Edith Thibodeau. Thomas and Edith’s daughter Albertine was Troy’s grandmother; their son Louis Sr. was Lana’s grandfather. That makes Troy and Lana second cousins on the Pelletier line.… First cousins share a pair of grandparents. They inherit, on average, about 12.5 percent of their DNA from the same recent ancestors. That...

Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson officially secured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate on Sunday, capping off a fast-moving replacement process that began after Democratic nominee Graham Platner withdrew from the race earlier this month. Meeting at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Democratic delegates overwhelmingly selected Jackson as their nominee, giving him 566 votes to 5 votes for fellow candidate Saundra Pelletier. The decisive margin ended weeks of speculation over who would replace Platner on the November ballot and sets up a high-profile general election against six-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Jackson accepted the nomination before...

Just hours before Maine Democrats are scheduled to meet in Bangor to select a replacement nominee for the U.S. Senate, a Republican state lawmaker is asking Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to determine whether former Senate President Troy Jackson is legally eligible to receive the nomination at all...

Congress on Thursday split on advancing a pair of war powers resolutions aimed at forcing President Donald Trump to abandon his war with Iran, as the conflict escalates into a deadly new phase and oil tops $100 a barrel. The moves were the first vote since Trump informed Congress that he restarted the war with Iran following the breakdown of peace negotiations. The conflict’s revival after weeks of a shaky ceasefire comes just months before the U.S. midterm elections. It threatens to scramble the majority Republicans’ plan to maintain their razor-thin majorities. The Senate on Thursday voted 47-49 to kill...

Democratic Senate contenders are dramatically out-raising their Republican peers, according to Federal Election Commission data — with Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and James Talarico in Texas leading the pack. Eight of the top 10 Senate candidate fundraiser this year are Democrats, whose top contestants have raked in $574 million, compared to the Republicans’ $336 million, per the FEC. Incumbent Sen. Ossoff (D-Ga.) is the biggest fundraiser on both sides, having raked in a jaw-dropping $77 million as of June 30, and has a staggering $42.5 million in cash on hand. He’s raised nearly $98 million as a Senate candidate, including the...

Former state Senate President Troy Jackson is racking up support to become Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee, with both his top opponents ending their campaigns on Sunday. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and physician Nirav Shah, a former top public health official in the state, both announced they would be leaving the race. Bellows made her announcement Sunday morning, while Shah exited the race Sunday evening after Democrats across the state selected delegates to next week’s state nominating convention. Shah threw his support behind Jackson. “To Maine Democrats: Susan Collins will not be defeated without a united Democratic Party....

Sen. John Fetterman blasted Sen. Bernard Sanders over his endorsements of Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed. The Pennsylvania Democrat’s remarks came late Saturday following a rally held by Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, for Mr. El-Sayed, who is running to be the U.S. senator from Michigan. Mr. El-Sayed has come under fire for his anti-Israel comments, including calling it a “rogue state” during a CNN interview. “You know, humble yourself, Bernie. You know, you just pushed an accused rapist and imploded up in Maine and now you’re pushing, you know, essentially a pro-Hamas candidate...

SANFORD, Maine — Former state Senate President Troy Jackson is racking up support to become Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee, with one of his top opponents ending her campaign on Sunday. “Donald Trump’s attacks on our democracy are only accelerating, and the best way that I can serve our state and country at this moment is by focusing exclusively on my role as Secretary of State,” Bellows said in a statement. York County Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathie Purdy announced the news just as Democrats gathered at a performing arts center began casting ballots for delegates to next week’s state convention,...