2026-08-26T16:00:29.309Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/politics/maine-democrats-troy-jackson-women
在成为缅因州联邦参议院民主党候选人一个月后，特洛伊·杰克逊正加大对女性选民和关注堕胎权的选民的游说力度，试图强化与共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯之间的鲜明对比——这一直是这场竞选的核心议题。
在缅因州党内数月动荡可能打击这一关键投票群体的士气后，争取女性支持对杰克逊而言已是一项紧迫任务。该州女性州长珍妮特·米尔斯在初选前退选，而最终胜出的黑马候选人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳在遭否认的强奸指控曝光后竞选崩盘。如今，共和党正试图将杰克逊与其前任——以及他在女性选民中的负面形象——绑定。
“缅因州经历了太多，”“生殖自由至上”组织主席米妮·蒂马鲁说。该组织将于周三晚间到访缅因州，正式宣布对杰克逊的支持。
民主党如今希望将焦点转向柯林斯。这位自称“支持堕胎权”的共和党议员曾关键投票支持任命最终参与多布斯案裁决的最高法院大法官，而该裁决终结了联邦堕胎权。杰克逊在堕胎问题上的态度则颇为矛盾：在十年前之前，他曾强烈反对堕胎权，之后立场逐渐转向支持。
“我们并非首次支持在堕胎权问题上经历重大转变的候选人，”蒂马鲁以美国前总统乔·拜登为例指出，“我们认为，特洛伊已经用行动弥补了过往的立场，他是珍妮特·米尔斯的重要盟友与伙伴，也是多布斯案后应对举措中的关键领袖。”
“生殖自由至上”组织曾在初选中支持米尔斯，普拉特纳胜出后该组织从未背书过他。
杰克逊的竞选团队周三还将宣布成立“女性支持特洛伊”联盟，成员包括该州16个县的数百名女性。本周早些时候，杰克逊的竞选团队播出了一则电视广告，他的母亲科琳·麦克布雷尔蒂在广告中讲述了他的品格，画面穿插着他与生命中其他女性会面的场景。
“女性应该支持特洛伊·杰克逊，因为他支持女性自主决定自身身体相关事务，”来自牛津县的联盟成员卡罗琳·米切尔在一份声明中说，“女性不应支持苏珊·柯林斯，因为她纵容政府替女性做出这类决定。”
这些新举措出台之际，这场竞选正处于关键节点。民主党将此次选举视为11月参议院席位易主的关键一战。杰克逊在筹款方面仍需追赶：7月底获得提名后的两天内，他仅筹款200万美元，而柯林斯在当月初就拥有1100万美元的竞选资金储备。
女性选民在缅因州是竞争激烈的群体。出口民调显示，在柯林斯上次连任竞选时，女性选民占投票总人数的五分之三，当时她仅以微弱优势击败缅因州众议院议长民主党人萨拉·吉迪恩。本月早些时候公布的福克斯新闻民调显示，女性选民支持率势均力敌：50%支持杰克逊，46%支持柯林斯。
民主党认为此次选举有着本质不同，因为这是2022年多布斯案裁决后柯林斯首次参与连任竞选。四年前，柯林斯投票支持任命布雷特·卡瓦诺大法官，而正是这位大法官加入了多布斯案的多数意见阵营。
这位参议员的盟友表示，民主党在堕胎问题上的热情忽视了柯林斯与缅因州女性选民之间的独特关系。他们称，即便选民不同意她的立场，也会尊重她对议题的审慎态度。
“苏珊·柯林斯一直支持堕胎权，是缅因州女性的拥护者，”柯林斯竞选团队发言人布雷克·克南在一份声明中说，该声明还提及杰克逊曾与普拉特纳关系密切，以及他过去反对堕胎权的记录，“但仅仅因为她是共和党人，全国性组织就不惜扭曲事实，来支持这些有着糟糕过往的男性候选人。”
周二是杰克逊在班戈举行的民主党代表大会上以远超对手的组织能力赢得提名、顶替普拉特纳的一个月纪念日。自那以来，这场竞选受到的全国关注有所减弱，与普拉特纳时期相比，杰克逊也不再是争议的焦点。
对他的一些支持者而言，这恰到好处。他们认为，杰克逊正以更典型的民主党人形象参选——在这个倾向民主党的州，在全国范围内有利于民主党人的政治环境中。
“他的策略是正确的，与格雷厄姆（普拉特纳）的做法截然不同，他将重点完全放在苏珊·柯林斯和这场选举的利害关系上，”杰克逊提名替补名额的前竞争对手乔丹·伍德说，“在缅因州这样的州，这场竞选的最佳策略就是让选民思考：‘你希望谁掌控参议院？’”
“在当下这个时刻，缅因州不需要什么过于花哨的策略，”伍德补充道。
这并非说杰克逊是最循规蹈矩的民主党人。作为一名从事伐木行业多年、在州政坛打拼二十余年的政客，他的支持者称，他融合了普拉特纳的进步派劳工路线与米尔斯的建制派号召力。
在天主教家庭长大的杰克逊也因堕胎权立场的转变而备受关注。他曾表示，自己早年从政时反对堕胎权是“错误的”。多布斯案裁决后，他与米尔斯合作进一步扩大了缅因州的堕胎服务渠道。
“罗伊诉韦德案被推翻时，我没有束手无策或找借口——而是立刻行动起来，”杰克逊在一份声明中说。
蒂马鲁称，她的团队与杰克逊进行了“艰难的沟通”，如今对他在该议题上的资质“非常、非常有信心”。
普拉特纳仍然是这场竞选挥之不去的阴影。共和党广告反复播放今年早些时候杰克逊竞选州长期间与普拉特纳一同竞选的画面。
伍德在争夺替补提名的竞选期间曾辩称，杰克逊与普拉特纳的关联将成为其竞选的软肋。但在本周的采访中，伍德表示杰克逊在处理该问题上表现出色，他表达了许多缅因州民主党人感受到的“背叛感”——杰克逊曾称普拉特纳就过往经历对他撒谎——随后便转向了针对柯林斯的精准宣传信息。
普拉特纳将于下月重返公众视野，在其海滨家乡沙利文附近的劳动节集会上发表演讲。一小部分前支持者曾试图招募他以写候选人身份参选，包括周日与他当面会谈，但注册为写候选人的截止日期已于周二到期。
尽管杰克逊表示不希望得到普拉特纳的支持，但他仍未获得今年党内风波中另一位关键人物的背书：米尔斯。大约一个月前，她在接受本地电视采访时拒绝为杰克逊背书，而州长办公室的发言人未回应此次报道的置评请求。
普拉特纳与特朗普的阴影
共和党对杰克逊的攻击清晰表明，他们认为女性选民是可争取的对象。
柯林斯的竞选团队大多播放正面广告，而资金雄厚的超级政治行动委员会“松树树结果PAC”则带头攻击杰克逊。该委员会的广告强调杰克逊与普拉特纳的过往关联，以及他曾与州议会女性同事发生冲突、1988年在与一名男子争执中推搡伴侣拉娜·佩尔蒂埃的报道。杰克逊否认曾对佩尔蒂埃或其他女性使用过暴力。
“先是格雷厄姆·普拉特纳在女性问题上出了问题，”该超级PAC的一则广告中一名女性说道，随后另一名女性接话：“现在——轮到特洛伊·杰克逊了。”
民主党更愿意将话题转向柯林斯。本月早些时候，计划生育协会在该竞选活动中投放首批广告时，并未提及杰克逊，而是由一名此前曾投票给柯林斯的女性出镜，称自己后悔支持这位参议员，部分原因是柯林斯近期为卡瓦诺的投票辩护的言论。
曾参与柯林斯过往竞选的缅因州共和党策略师兰斯·达特森表示，他怀疑这类攻击能否在这场柯林斯花了数十年时间赢得部分女性选民信任的竞选中起到决定性作用。
“我认为这确实极大削弱了卡瓦诺这类事件可能带来的轰动效应，”他说。
达特森表示，他认为柯林斯与特朗普的关系——在这个三次否决特朗普的州——“更为重要”。柯林斯偶尔会批评特朗普的政策，最近一次是警告他对加拿大进口商品的最新关税将“增加缅因州家庭的生活成本”。
柯林斯已两次缺席副总统JD·万斯近期在该州的活动，最近一次是周二万斯访问班戈郊外一家制造工厂的活动。每次万斯都会在台上提及柯林斯，并试图将她描绘成共和党联盟中虽有时令人沮丧但不可或缺的一员。
“每次我在缅因州，都得吐槽一下苏珊，正如你们所知，苏珊是美国参议院中最独立的议员，作为参议院议长，她有时会让我的工作稍微难做一点，”万斯在布鲁尔说，“但她之所以让工作变难，是因为她每天都来上班，不是为了某个政党……而是为了缅因州的伟大民众。”
‘Maine has been through a lot’: Democrats sharpen pitch to women after turmoil in must-win Senate race
2026-08-26T16:00:29.309Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/politics/maine-democrats-troy-jackson-women
A month after he became the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, Troy Jackson is ramping up his appeals to women and voters who care about abortion rights, looking to sharpen a contrast with Republican Sen. Susan Collins that has long been at the center of the race.
The task of building female support is an urgent one for Jackson after months of intraparty turmoil in Maine threatened to demoralize some in the crucial voting bloc. The state’s female governor, Janet Mills, dropped out before the primary, and the eventual winner, insurgent Graham Platner, saw his campaign collapse after a rape allegation that he denies. Now, Republicans are working to tie Jackson to his predecessor – and his problems with women.
“Maine has been through a lot,” said Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, who is set to visit Maine on Wednesday evening to unveil the group’s endorsement of Jackson.
Democrats are now hoping to turn the focus to Collins, who describes herself as a “pro-choice” Republican, and her key vote to confirm one of the Supreme Court justices who ultimately signed onto the Dobbs decision, which ended federal abortion rights. Jackson has his own mixed record on the issue – once deeply opposed to abortion rights before becoming more of a supporter in the last decade.
“We are not strangers to supporting candidates who made major evolutions on abortion rights,” Timmaraju said, pointing to former President Joe Biden as perhaps the most prominent example. “We feel like Troy has more than made up for his history by being the kind of critical champion and partner to Janet Mills, a critical leader in the Dobbs response.”
Reproductive Freedom for All endorsed Mills the primary but never backed Platner after his win.
Jackson’s campaign on Wednesday is also set to announce a “Women for Troy” coalition that includes hundreds of women from all 16 counties in the state. And earlier this week, Jackson’s campaign started airing a TV ad where his mother, Colleen McBreairty, testifies to his character over images of him meeting with other women in his life.
“Women should support Troy Jackson because he supports allowing women to make their own decisions about their own bodies,” Caroline Mitchell, a member of the coalition from Oxford County, said in a statement. “Women should not support Susan Collins because she has enabled the government to make that decision for women.”
The new efforts come at a crucial time in the race, which Democrats see as key to flipping the Senate in November. Jackson is still playing catch-up on fundraising, raising $2 million in the two days after he captured the nomination in late July, while Collins entered that month with an $11 million war chest.
Female voters are a highly competitive group in Maine. Exit polls show they made up 3 in 5 voters in Collins’ last reelection campaign, when she narrowly carried the group against Democrat Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. In a Fox News poll released earlier this month, female voters were closely split, with 50% backing Jackson and 46% backing Collins.
Democrats believe this election is fundamentally different because this is the first time Collins is on the ballot since the 2022 Dobbs decision. Collins voted four years earlier to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the majority on the decision.
The senator’s allies say the Democratic enthusiasm around the issue of abortion overlooks her unique relationship with women voters in Maine, who they say respect her thoughtful approach to issues even when they disagree with her.
“Susan Collins has always been pro-choice and a champion for Maine women,” Collins campaign spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in a statement highlighting Jackson’s once-close relationship with Platner and his past opposition to abortion rights. “But because she is a Republican, the national groups continue to twist themselves into a pretzel to support these male candidates with terrible records.”
Tuesday marked one month since Jackson vastly out-organized his competition and won the nomination to replace Platner at a party convention in Bangor. Since then, the national spotlight on the race has dimmed, and Jackson has been less of a lightning rod for controversy compared to Platner.
To some of his supporters, that’s just fine. They see him as running as more of a generic Democrat — in a Democratic-leaning state, in a national environment that favors the party.
“He’s got the right strategy, and it is a departure from Graham in just really focusing on Susan Collins and the stakes of this election,” said Jordan Wood, one of Jackson’s former rivals for the replacement nomination. “In a state like Maine, the best strategy, uniquely for this race, is you make it a question for voters, ‘Who do you want in control of the Senate?’”
“In this moment, Maine is not a state you’ve got to get super creative with,” Wood added.
That is not to say Jackson is the most conventional Democrat. A longtime logger who has spent over two decades in state politics, his supporters say he mixes Platner’s progressive, labor-aligned politics with Mills’ establishment appeal.
Jackson, who was raised Catholic, has also stood out for his evolution on abortion. He has said he was “wrong” to oppose abortion rights early in his political career, and after the Dobbs decision, he worked with Mills to further expand abortion access in the state.
“When Roe was overturned, I didn’t wring my hands or make excuses — I got to work,” Jackson said in a statement.
Timmaraju said her group has had “tough conversations” with Jackson and now feels “really, really confident” in his credentials on the issue.
Platner still hovers over the race, with Republican ads replaying images of him campaigning alongside Jackson earlier this year when Jackson was running for governor.
Wood had argued during the race for the replacement nomination that Jackson’s ties to Platner would be a liability. But in an interview this week, Wood suggested Jackson has done a good job addressing the issue, giving voice to the “betrayal” many Maine Democrats felt – Jackson has said Platner lied to him about his past – and then moving on to a disciplined anti-Collins message.
Platner is set to reemerge next month to speak at a Labor Day rally near his coastal hometown of Sullivan. A small group of former supporters tried to recruit him to run as a write-in candidate, including by meeting with him in person Sunday, but the deadline to register as a write-in candidate passed Tuesday.
While Jackson has said he does not want Platner’s support, he still lacks the endorsement of another major figure in this year’s intraparty saga: Mills. She declined to endorse Jackson in a local TV interview about a month ago, and a spokesperson for the governor did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Platner and Trump loom
Republicans’ attacks on Jackson make it clear that they view female voters as up for grabs.
While Collins’ campaign has largely aired positive ads, a well-funded super PAC, Pine Tree Results PAC, has taken the lead on attacking Jackson. Its ads highlight his past ties to Platner and reports that he clashed with female colleagues in the state legislature and pushed his partner, Lana Pelletier, during a fight with another man in 1988. Jackson has denied ever being violent with Pelletier or any other women.
“First it was Graham Platner’s problem with women,” a woman says in one of the super PAC’s ads, before a second woman says, “And now – Troy Jackson.”
Democrats would much rather talk about Collins. When Planned Parenthood launched its first ads in the race earlier this month, they did not mention Jackson and instead featured a woman who previously voted for Collins saying she regrets her support for the senator, citing in part her recent comments standing by her vote for Kavanaugh.
Lance Dutson, a Maine GOP strategist who has worked on Collins’ previous campaigns, said he doubted such attacks would be decisive in a race where Collins has spent decades earning the trust of some female voters.
“I think that really, really mitigates the lightning-bolt effect that issues like Kavanaugh or others could have,” he said.
Dutson said he thought Collins’ relationship with Trump – in a state that has rejected him three times – was “far more” important to the race. Collins is an occasional critic of Trump policies, most recently warning that his latest tariffs on Canadian imports would “increase costs for Maine families.”
Collins has skipped two recent appearances in her state by Vice President JD Vance, mostly recently Tuesday, when he visited a manufacturing facility outside Bangor. Each time, Vance has shouted her out from the stage and sought to portray as an important – if sometimes frustrating – part of the GOP coalition.
“Whenever I’m in Maine I’ve got to give Susan a little bit of crap because, as you know, Susan is the most independent member of the United States Senate, and as the president of the … Senate, she sometimes makes my job just a little bit harder,” Vance said in Brewer. “But she makes it harder because she is coming to work every single day and fighting not for a political party … [but] for the great people of Maine.”
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