Collins: 'I'm Not Going to Bring Up' That Jackson Had Kids With His Cousin

The Quote That Launched a Thousand Stitches

Here is what Collins actually said to Politico columnist Jonathan Martin, verbatim: "I'm not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin. I don't know whether people know that or not."

Martin, to his credit, immediately replied: "I think you just mentioned it."

Collins held the line. "It's not something I'm going to be emphasizing," she insisted, keeping what has to be described as a completely straight face. "It's up to people to decide" whether it's a campaign issue.

This is what political scientists call a "non-denial denial." What civilians call it is considerably less printable. What social media called it, within about four hours, was the funniest thing to happen in a Senate race this cycle.

Who Is Troy Jackson, Exactly

Troy Jackson is the former president of Maine's state Senate, which means he has a record. He entered the race after the original Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, dropped out following a rape allegation. So this is already the understudying role in a very troubled production.

According to the New York Post, Jackson and his longtime partner Lana Pelletier share the same great-grandparents. The relationship first surfaced publicly in July when The Maine Wire reported it. Maine is not, for the record, a state that prohibits second-cousin relationships. But it is a state where Susan Collins has a microphone and apparently excellent comedic timing.

There is more. A 1988 police report obtained by multiple outlets claims Jackson assaulted a man at a bar whom he believed had romantic intentions toward Pelletier. The same report states Pelletier herself accused Jackson of pushing her around. Jackson does not dispute hitting the man but strongly denies any physical contact with Pelletier, and Pelletier has said she does not recall giving that statement to police. Collins, speaking to Fox News Digital in August, said the reporting suggests Jackson "struggles to control his temper," which is the most Collins-ian way possible to call someone a hothead.

The Internet, Briefly United

It is a rare thing when a political moment draws admiration from both sides of the aisle. This was apparently one of them. Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki posted on X that Collins' quip was "10/10," adding the word "grudgingly" to make clear she understood the assignment but still had to respect the execution. Politico editor Mike DeBonis called it "a less-than-2-minute precis of how Susan Collins is as stone-cold a political combatant as the Senate has ever seen."

Republican operative Jesse Hunt went with "silent killer." GOP communicator Steve Guest went with "Susan Collins from the top rope on Troy Jackson." The Independent's Washington bureau chief Eric Michael Garcia offered what might be the best take: "Don't let the New England lilt and the pastel outfits fool you: Collins is still the Lady on the Iron Throne."

NOTUS reporter Igor Bobic made the more clinical observation that Collins was deploying what he called a "Trump tactic," which is raising a subject by loudly announcing you are declining to raise it. This is true. It is also devastatingly effective, which is why every politician from Donald Trump to your aunt at Thanksgiving has used it at some point.

Collins Actually Had a Substantive Point In There Somewhere

To be fair to the senator, the cousin thing was not the whole interview. Collins made a genuinely interesting strategic argument about why Jackson is not necessarily an easier opponent than Platner was. According to Politico's reporting, she said that Platner, as a political outsider, had no record to attack. Jackson has been in Maine politics for two decades, which means he has plenty.

"Under Troy Jackson's leadership in Augusta, electric rates have skyrocketed," Collins said, per the New York Post. "Maine's [energy prices] are the fourth highest in the country, and he voted against a bill recommended by the independent public advocate that would have helped lower rates." That is a real line of attack, tied to a real voting record, and it is the kind of thing that actually moves votes in a state where people heat their homes with oil and feel it every winter.

Jackson's campaign has pushed back by pointing out that Collins votes with Trump 96 percent of the time, and called the focus on his family life "shameful and desperate." That is a defensible framing. It is also the kind of thing you say when you do not have a great answer to the other thing.

The Race Itself Is Genuinely Close

Collins is widely considered the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the Senate this cycle. She is the only Republican left standing in New England congressional politics, which tells you something about how the region has shifted. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average has Jackson leading by 2.3 points, per the New York Post.

But Collins has a long history of polling worse than she ultimately performs. She overperformed in 2020 by a significant margin, surviving what most forecasters had written off as a likely loss. Whether that kind of incumbency magic still works in 2026, in a midterm environment shaped by Trump's second term, is the actual question. The cousin stuff is funnier. The electricity prices are more predictive.