Collins and Jackson's cousin

News · Heat 1.5 / 10 · 2 shows · 11m airtime

In late October 2026, days before the midterms, Susan Collins told a Maine audience she would not bring up that her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson had two children with his second cousin. The Senate Leadership Fund is airing a Maine radio ad making the same point, and a super PAC ad running across the state attacks Jackson over the relationship. The discussion treats it as the latest example of how vulgar the campaign has turned.

How 2 podcasts covered it

1. Ruthless Podcast, 2026-10-21 (36:07 to 40:10)
   Plays the cousin ad and the donor disclosure
   Plays the Senate Leadership Fund's Maine radio ad in full and pairs it with a Washington Free Beacon story that Jackson disclosed billionaire donors two days after denying any funded him. The segment is reaction and mockery, with the ad's cousin line as the centerpiece.
   New angle: The Senate Leadership Fund is airing a Maine radio ad saying Troy Jackson has two children with his cousin.
2. The Daily Show: Ears Edition, 2026-10-23 (7:54 to 10:35)
   Reports the super PAC ad in Maine
   Covers the Maine Senate race through Collins's non-mention of Jackson's second cousin and the super PAC ad that makes the attack for her, with a live hit to Maine. Neither candidate point covers this race.
   New angle: A super PAC ad running across Maine attacks Troy Jackson for having two children with his second cousin.
3. The Daily Show: Ears Edition, 2026-10-23 (10:19 to 14:18)
   Defends Jackson with cousin-law trivia
   Kosta reports from Maine on the super PAC ad and defends Jackson by walking through state cousin-marriage laws with Chieng. The legal trivia and the cousin equation are jokes built on the ad already on the record, not a new development in the race.