Fact check: GOP ad distorts claims about Troy Jackson’s son

A new Republican ad uses false and distorted claims to attack the family of Maine U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson.

The ad, produced by the Senate Leadership Fund PAC, suggests that Jackson sabotaged an anti-pollution bill in the state Senate to enrich his lobbyist son, but it dramatically overstates the role Jackson and his son played in the bill’s demise.

“One polluter wanted to stop a bill cracking down on emissions,” a voiceover says. “They paid Jackson’s son and, with Jackson in charge, the bill went up in smoke.”

The bill in question was LD 1707, introduced in 2019 when Jackson was leading the Maine state Senate. The legislation would have required independent testing of environmental permit compliance rather than allowing permit holders to conduct the testing themselves.

A lobbying firm that employed Jackson’s son, Chace, was registered to lobby against the bill. Chace, however, was only an associate, working under the principal lobbyist who was leading the effort.

The legislature’s bipartisan Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted unanimously that the bill should not pass. Jackson did not serve on the committee, and there is no indication that he whipped votes in favor of this outcome.

Under Maine legislative rules, any bill that a committee unanimously recommends not to pass requires the support of a two-thirds majority in both chambers to be reconsidered. LD 1707 did not have that support and never received a floor vote.

The ad also claims that Chace “raked in almost $200,000 from special interests.” This figure, however, refers to what Chace’s employers were paid, not him individually. The ad cites a Washington Beacon article that makes this distinction clear.

“Chace Jackson did not struggle to land clients, according to the Maine Ethics Commission’s lobbyist disclosure database, which only goes back to 2024,” the article states. “During that year, his firm received $182,500 in lobbying compensation from nine of Jackson’s clients.”

A 2024 Bangor Daily News analysis found that Jackson did not appear to change his positions based on his son’s lobbying.

Jackson is challenging Republican Sen. Susan Collins in this year’s election. A Beacon Research poll from August shows Jackson leading Collins by 2 points.