AUGUSTA, Maine — A new ad from a Republican-aligned super PAC accuses former Senate President Troy Jackson of supporting “raising taxes on your Social Security,” a claim that misrepresents the Democrat’s actual position on the program.
The spot from Pine Tree Results PAC, which backs U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and is funded by dark-money group Stronger America Inc. and several billionaire donors, began running Wednesday. Jackson calls for raising taxes on high earners by scrapping the payroll tax cap, currently at $184,000, not for taxing Social Security recipients.
It landed as the latest escalation in an already turbulent season, one both parties’ outside groups have shaped with dueling attack ads, and one projected to generate $400 million in ad spending as Democrats hope a Maine win helps them retake the Senate. Both candidates in the pivotal race are accusing the other side of misleading ads.
Wednesday’s ad cites Jackson’s comments at a News Center Maine debate during Democrats’ July nominating process to replace Graham Platner. All the major candidates supported eliminating the cap that stops higher earners from paying into Social Security. Jackson said he would “never” support raising the retirement age, something Collins also opposes.
A spokesperson for Pine Tree Results PAC pointed to those same debate comments when asked about the group’s characterization of Jackson’s views on Social Security.
Collins’ team this week separately blasted multiple ads from the Democratic leadership-tied dark money group Affordable Maine as false representations of the senator’s actions and views on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its deep cuts to Medicaid, which could add up to a nearly $6 billion hit to hospitals here, according to a state estimate last year.
In one, a nurse says Collins “voted to support Donald Trump on the largest Medicaid cut in history,” a claim FactCheck.org said was false. The senator was one of three Republicans who voted against the bill, citing the Medicaid cuts as the primary reason she opposed it.
Collins did cast a procedural vote to advance the bill to the Senate floor, which Jackson’s and national Democrats say means she shoulders some responsibility for the health care cuts. Collins’ team says the procedural vote helped allow her to push to include a rural health care fund to help offset the cuts that will bring $190 million to Maine. Democrats say the fund doesn’t come close to covering the cuts’ impacts on rural communities.
Another Affordable Maine ad says Collins’ procedural vote was “decisive,” a point challenged by the senator’s team and FactCheck.org. The vote was 51-49, so even if she had voted against advancing the bill, Vice President JD Vance was ready to cast a tiebreaking vote if needed.
“Maine Democrats and their outside groups have built a campaign around lies that an independent, non-partisan fact check organization has found to be completely false,” Shawn Roderick, a Collins campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
Affordable Maine in a statement maintained Collins could have done more to stop the bill, and that “she voted to advance a bill that included massive cuts to healthcare knowing it would ultimately pass.”
Democrats also point to a late-July ad from Republican leadership-connected Senate Leadership Fund that invoked national media reports about Jackson’s behind-the-scenes blowups with fellow lawmakers but included a false claim that he struck a female colleague.
Jackson’s team, which has been rapidly building an infrastructure many campaigns prepare for months, has continued to hammer Collins on her overall support for Trump’s agenda despite the times she’s broken with the GOP. A spokesperson again pointed to Collins’ Big Beautiful Bill procedural votes, noting it contained so-called Trump savings accounts cited by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as a “back door for privatizing Social Security.”
“People understand what is at stake after Susan Collins voted with Donald Trump 96% of the time,” a campaign spokesperson said Tuesday.