Troy Jackson’s Campaign Tried to Fix Its Women Problem and Only Made It Worse

Troy Jackson told a heckler to shut up during a live Senate debate and said he did not even know the kid.

His campaign tried to steady things with a women's event, and the plan backfired almost immediately.

The event meant to calm women voters is now the clearest sign yet that this campaign cannot stop tripping over itself.

The Event Meant to Stop the Bleeding Instead Opened a New Wound

The "Women for Troy" coalition gathered current and former female Maine state lawmakers to reassure voters rattled by weeks of bad headlines.

It was the campaign's event, and it still became one more entry on a growing list of unforced errors.

Maine Women's Lobby Executive Director Destie Hohman Sprague told the crowd, "Troy understands that women's labor is also labor."

Jackson was not there to hear it.

When someone asked where the candidate actually was, the answer was that he was "on the campaign trail."

The candidate's supporters had to stand up and vouch for how he treats women while he campaigned somewhere else entirely.

What These Women Are Actually Asking Voters to Overlook

A Fort Kent police report says a 19-year-old Jackson forced his way into a home in March 1988, grabbed a man by the throat, and swung hard enough to crack his glasses and cut his face.

A witness told police Jackson warned the man to "stay away from Lana Pelletier or else," naming his girlfriend at the time.

According to the report, Pelletier told police Jackson shoved her once the confrontation ended, and that she meant to file harassment papers against him.

Jackson has not disputed the fight itself.

"I got into a fight with another man. I took responsibility for it then, and I take responsibility for it now," Jackson said.

He denies the report's account involving Pelletier.

"I have never been violent with my partner Lana, or any other woman," Jackson said.

Pelletier, who is still with Jackson, said, "I do not remember making the statements attributed to me, and they are not accurate."

That is not the only allegation Jackson has had to answer for this year.

A separate incident, reported by CNN and the Washington Post, has Jackson throwing a water bottle during a Maine State House meeting around 2021, while he was Senate president.

A female lawmaker in the room said she believed she was the target and later chose not to seek reelection over it.

Jackson's campaign told CNN he "was not aiming the water bottle at anyone when he threw it."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee called the 1988 report "disgusting and inexcusable" and demanded Senate Democrats condemn Jackson directly.

The Four Point Gap That Explains Why Democrats Needed This Event

A University of New Hampshire poll taken in July had Jackson leading Susan Collins among women by thirteen points, 54 percent to 41 percent.

By late September that lead had collapsed to four points, with Jackson at 51 percent and Collins at 47 percent.

Her favorable numbers with women moved from 34 to 40 percent across those same ten weeks.

That is not a small shift for a race that will be decided on November 3.

That kind of collapse is why a campaign would schedule a press conference built entirely around reassuring women, and still forget to bring the candidate.

Collins built a reputation with Maine women over three decades, long before this race started.

Add it to the list: the debate insult, the 1988 report, the water bottle account, and now a reassurance event that reassured no one.

Jackson is spending this one hoping a borrowed podium can do what his record cannot.

Sources:

• Sister Toldjah, "'Women for Troy' Event in Maine Was Missing Someone," RedState, October 22, 2026.
• Fox News, "Dem Senate Nominee Admits, Takes Responsibility, After Police Report Alleges He Broke Down Door, Punched Man," Fox News, October 2026.
• The Daily Wire, "Troy Jackson Admits to Assault After Police Report Surfaces," The Daily Wire, October 2026.
• Newsweek, "Susan Collins Gaining Ground With Women in Maine," Newsweek, October 2026.
• WABI, "Maine Democratic Senate Frontrunner Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged Anger Outbursts," WABI, July 2026.