Susan Collins asks a Republican super PAC to pull a radio ad calling Troy Jackson a creep

Sen. Susan Collins called on Oct. 21 for the removal of a radio ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republicans, that attacks her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson, the Associated Press reported. The ad, set to a country song, calls Jackson a "freak" and a "creep" over his relationship with the mother of his children, whom it describes as his cousin. Collins said she "had nothing to do with that ad" and that federal law bars her from coordinating with the group.

Jackson's partner of nearly four decades, Lana Pelletier, wrote in a Bangor Daily News op ed that she "never imagined U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and her allies would stoop this low," Newsweek reported. Newsweek said the cousin claim first appeared in The Maine Wire in July and that it had not independently verified it. Jackson's campaign manager, Dan Gottlieb, said Collins owes the family an apology and accused her of spreading the attacks herself, according to the AP. Jackson, for his part, has called Collins corrupt and his campaign has criticized her husband's past work for defense and AI linked firms, Newsweek reported.

The same day, Collins campaigned in Lewiston with former Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat turned independent, who said, "She's not a Trump senator. She's not a Republican senator or a Democrat senator," CBS News reported. Collins called Vladimir Putin a "warmonger, a thug" and opposed the decision to waive new Russia sanctions. Jackson told CBS that as chair of the Appropriations Committee she could cut funding for the Iran war but is "not willing to do that."

CBS News rates the race a toss up, and Collins is the only Republican senator on the ballot this year in a state Trump lost. Newsweek reported that Jackson has led most polls since entering the race in late July, mostly within the margin of error.