Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson has doubled down on his accusations that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza over its war with Hamas terrorists, now dismissing Jewish Mayan objections.
Since taking over from Graham Plattner, Jackson has embraced the “genocide” label. Plattner’s insurgent anti-war movement had strong support from the left, and he was later forced to withdraw amid rape accusations, which he denied.
in a weekend town hallJackson claimed Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza and that he was “unwilling to vote for more bombs.”
“You know, I’m absolutely not willing to vote for more bombs, more aid. I mean, I said that yesterday [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is a war criminal; I will prosecute him,” Jackson said. “I obviously reiterated what happened there.
In an interview with Portland’s NBC News affiliate on Tuesday, Jackson called it “unfortunate” that some Jewish Mayans object to the description of the war as a “genocide.”
“Unfortunately, there are people in Maine who don’t like to use that word just because of who they are Jewish and what the Holocaust meant to them,” Jackson said. “It fits that description, and it is. Unbelievable things happened there, innocent people were murdered, it was a genocide.”
Asked about Hamas’s role in sparking the war on Oct. 7, Jackson said: “You could argue the same thing for Hamas. Both sides are at fault on this issue. But at the end of the day, there’s senseless murders, horrific murders on both sides, and that has to stop.”
Jackson’s moral equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli government stands in stark contrast to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a longtime supporter of U.S.-Israeli relations. Jackson said he would stop voting “blank checks” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if elected.
Before dropping out of the race, Plattner surged in the polls with a populist, anti-war message and had been leading Collins. Now, Jackson is looking to capitalize on anti-Israel sentiment to defeat incumbent Republicans.
“Susan Collins has voted time and time again to provide billions of dollars in military aid to Israel in this war,” Jackson said in a recent statement. “She is part of a broken system in Washington that continues to fund these conflicts while working people here get screwed.”
In Maine, Collins faces one of the toughest reelection battles of her career, but she remains one of the top-polling Republican candidates this cycle. real political clarity Jackson leads the average by less than a percentage point, while a New York Times/Siena poll released last week showed Collins leading by three points. Voters who prioritize Israel support Collins, According to a Times investigation. She also has a history of significantly outperforming pre-election polls, including her re-election in 2020, when she trailed in most pre-election polls but won by nearly 10 points.
The Cook Political Report rates the outcome of the race, which could decide control of the U.S. Senate, as unpredictable.