As of 1 p.m., the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate had not made good on his pledge to send his opponent his campaign finance information.
2 min read
Screenshot of the debate between Sen. Susan Collins and Troy Jackson broadcast on WMTW on last week. (Screengrab used by permission of WMTW)
In the heat of the moment during a Tuesday Senate debate, Democrat Troy Jackson offered to send his Republican rival the details of his campaign fundraising and spending a day before the deadline to file it with the Federal Election Commission.
But as of 1 p.m., Jackson had not followed through on his promise, a spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins said.
The seemingly spontaneous offer came after the 73-year-old Collins parried an attack about her billionaire supporters by noting that Jackson has not yet filed any campaign finance reports.
“I would point out that we have no idea who is financing Troy’s campaign,” Collins said. “He promised to be completely transparent, yet he has not filed a single report.”
An irritated Jackson shot back, saying he would release his report on Wednesday morning.
“I’ll give you the report tomorrow morning,” he said. “How about that? Is that enough? Because we see yours and I know that there’s no billionaires funding me…I’ll give you the report tomorrow and then we’ll talk about it on Thursday.”
Jackson’s campaign did not respond to questions about his comments at the debate.
The 58-year-old former logger and state Senate president is not breaking any campaign finance laws by not releasing the report early. But his failure to follow through on his televised offer could give Collins another line of attack when they face off in their fourth and final debate on Thursday.
The reason Jackson’s campaign funding and spending remain a mystery so late in the cycle is a matter of timing.
Jackson was named the Democratic nominee to replace Graham Platner after the oyster farmer dropped out on July 25. That was well after the previous campaign finance reporting period closed on June 30.
The next round of reports aren’t due until midnight on Thursday, at which point they will become public.
Although no report has been filed, Jackson doesn’t appear to have had much trouble raising money.
In July, he was the third-highest fundraiser on the Democrats’ ActBlue platform, raising $5.3 million despite being a candidate for only a few days.
And his campaign has spent, or reserved, at least $20 million in advertisements, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.
Randy Billings is a government watchdog and political reporter who has been the State House bureau chief since 2021. He was named the Maine Press Association’s Journalist of the Year in 2020. He joined... More by Randy Billings