When a young man jumped from his seat to shout at U.S. Sen. Susan Collins about the perils of data centers during her final debate with Democrat Troy Jackson on Thursday, some in the crowd loudly told him to “sit down and shut up.”
But the moment that drove headlines came next. Collins suggested the protester was one of Jackson’s backers, and the Democrat lightly shot back, “Oh, shut up.”
The exchange, in the first 15 minutes of the high-stakes race’s last debate, captured a trait the candidates have shared across four debates in two weeks: Neither shies away from a fight. Republicans tied it to Jackson’s well-documented temper dating back to confrontations as Maine Senate president. The Democrat’s allies called it an overblown distraction from issues like health care costs, the war with Iran and Collins’ record with President Donald Trump.
The candidates shook hands before and after the debate. But they’re characteristically still divided on how the “shut up” moment played out.
Maggie Amjad, Jackson’s campaign spokesperson, said the episode came after Collins had run “a campaign based on personal attacks against Troy and his family,” including echoing stories in conservative media about how his long-term partner, Lana Pelletier, is his second cousin.
The Sunrise Movement, a progressive group, later claimed the protester as a member in an Instagram post, saying 19-year-old Bowdoin College student Henry Elgie. A photo shared with the BDN shows him holding an anti-AI sign near Jackson allies outside a previous debate. He had a fake press badge and was not among the supporters Jackson invited Thursday.
“Senator Collins falsely accused him of planting a protester during the debate, and he responded,” she said. “Her campaign’s attempt to turn that exchange into anything else is baseless.”
Collins’ team linked it to other episodes that have aired during the campaign, including confrontations in the Maine Legislature and a 1988 police report documenting an assault when he was 19 years old. The report alleged he “pushed around” Pelletier, which both of them denied.
“This is yet another example of Troy Jackson’s angry outbursts with female colleagues,” Blake Kernen, Collins’ campaign spokesperson, said. “It raises a serious question about how he handles women who disagree with him.”
The moment highlighted vulnerabilities in both candidates, voters said. Beth Clark, a longtime Democratic voter from Troy who supports Collins, said Friday that Jackson had been “entirely disrespectful” to the senator.
“Maybe the rules have changed in debating since I was in high school,” she said. “But you have to be in full control of your faculties and think about what you’re saying.”
Jackson supporters argued even if his word choice on the fly wasn’t wise, his tone leaned toward lighthearted. They said it was Collins’ who veered into rudeness by seizing on the chaotic moment as security led out the heckler and saying he was “obviously one of Troy’s supporters.”
Some said it reminded them of a moment captured on audio after the end of the first debate, when Collins needled Jackson for being a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
“It was a very Maine response … more like, ‘Oh, come on,’” a Jackson supporter granted anonymity because the organization she works for doesn’t allow her to speak on the race, said Friday. “As a woman, I was not offended. If [Republicans] want to take the woman angle, taking reproductive rights away from women is more offensive.”
When Republicans shared the clip on social media, accusing Jackson of lashing out at the senator, many on the left responded by pointing to Trump’s widely reported vulgar comments about women, including telling a reporter last year, “Quiet, piggy.”
Jackson’s remark didn’t spark immediate signs of offense from the senator herself, as she showed during several points of contention on her record in the three previous debates.
Instead, she stuck to the point she argued, retorting sarcastically, “Yeah, right.”