With the midterm elections weeks away, a Republican group trying to help GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine get re-elected aired an advertisement for her in the wrong state.
A $25,000 ad from the Republican PAC Defending Main Street ran in Portland, Oregon, rather than Portland, Maine, according to The Oregonian.
The advertisement targeted Collins’ Democratic opponent and branded him as “Taxin’ Troy Jackson.”
President of the PAC, Sarah Chamberlain, said she was “very unhappy” about the gaffe and expressed shock at the mistake.
“I’m really upset,” she declared. “I cannot believe that this happened.”
Chamberlain also said the PAC is not to blame and claimed responsibility lies with the ad buyer, Cross Screen Media.
Cross Screen Media issued a statement saying that the error was “100 percent” on them and refunded the $25,000.
Should Maine’s campaign laws be changed to prevent mistakes like this?
Yes, stricter laws are needed
36% (4 votes)
No, the current laws are fine
27% (3 votes)
Only if there’s a pattern of errors
27% (3 votes)
Uncertain
9% (1 vote)
The advertisement has been pulled from Oregon and is now running in Maine.
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This news comes as Collins is locked in a tight race with Jackson. Recent polls show the race as a toss-up, Newsweek reported.
Collins has broken with Republicans on a number of occasions. She has been in the Senate for nearly 30 years.
This particular contest was also rocked by controversy after the original Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, was forced to drop out of the race in July.
Platner faced several scandals, including the discovery of a Nazi tattoo on his chest, inappropriate social media posts, infidelity, and allegations of abuse toward former girlfriends.
He was finally forced to step aside after he was publicly accused of rape by Maine Democrat Jenny Racicot.
This caused party leadership and other major Democratic figures to turn against him, ultimately ending his campaign.
His replacement, Jackson, is not without his own baggage.
While serving as President of the Maine Senate in 2021, he voted for a state policy allowing trans-identifying men into women’s prisons.
Republican super PAC Pine Tree Results spent $1.1 million on an ad campaign to attack Jackson’s stance on the matter.
It highlighted how under this law, a female inmate was allegedly harassed and threatened with rape by a trans-identifying male who was being housed in the prison.
“As Senate president, Jackson signed the bill requiring state prisons to house biological men if they identify as female with women prisoners,” the ad stated.
The male inmate, Andrea Balcer, had been convicted of killing his parents and their family dog. He was moved from the Maine State Prison to the women’s section of the Maine Correctional Institute in 2023.
The female inmate, Katie Mountain, was serving a 10-month sentence. Shed filed a lawsuit in April against the Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Randy Liberty and Maine Correctional Center Warden Ben Beal over the alleged incident.
She claimed that Balcer told her graphic stories of a sexual nature, forcibly kissed her, threatened to rape and impregnate her, and even trapped her in the restroom.
Additionally, Mountain said Balcer threatened to kill her by smothering her with a pillow.
The case is still pending, but WCSH-TV noted in June that several other women have joined the lawsuit.
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