Troy Jackson stood on a debate stage in Bangor, Maine, on Thursday night and told a live audience that no billionaires were funding his Senate campaign. The audience laughed. Not politely. Not nervously. They laughed the way people laugh when someone says something so obviously untrue that the only alternative to laughing is feeling insulted.
His opponent, Senator Susan Collins, didn't even need to raise her voice. She just pointed to the record.
Jackson, Maine's Democratic Senate nominee, has raised $20.4 million since entering the race in July after the previous Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, withdrew. His campaign website claims he "isn't backed by corporate PACs or billionaire donors." That claim ran headfirst into a wall of FEC filings during the October 17 final debate.
Collins noted during Tuesday's first debate on October 15 that Jackson had yet to file a single campaign finance report despite promising full transparency. "I would point out that we have no idea who is financing Troy's campaign," Collins said. "He promised to be completely transparent, yet he has not filed a single report."
Jackson's response on Tuesday was to punt. "Because we see yours and I know that there's no billionaires funding me," he said. "I'll give you the report tomorrow and then we'll talk about it on Thursday."
Thursday came. The reports came with it. Among Jackson's donors: Josh Bekenstein, co-chairman of Bain Capital. Anne Earhart, the Getty Oil heiress. Hedge fund founder Nat Simons and his sister Liz Simons. Not exactly the small-dollar grassroots army his website promises.
When Collins pointed this out on the Bangor debate stage, the audience didn't wait for Jackson's rebuttal. They already had the answer.
Jackson tried to recover. "I know what's in my campaign," he said. "As far as the billionaires that I might have on my campaign, that is accurate. But I haven't made any deals like Senator Collins has with those billionaires." The shift from "there are no billionaires funding me" to "okay, there are billionaires, but I haven't made deals with them" happened in the span of 48 hours and two debates. On camera.
His campaign touts 200,000-plus contributors and a mere $15,000 from oil and pharmaceutical lobbyists — framing designed to make the Bekenstein and Earhart money disappear into a sea of five-dollar donations. A recent poll has Jackson leading Collins 50% to 46%, which means Maine voters are about to decide whether a man who couldn't keep his own story straight for two consecutive debates should represent them in the United States Senate.
The tell wasn't the lie. Politicians lie about donor lists the way the rest of us lie about how much we enjoyed a neighbor's casserole. The tell was the pivot — the speed at which "no billionaires" became "well, maybe some billionaires, but it's different when I do it."
Collins said two words when Jackson tried the revised version on Thursday: "That's not accurate."
The audience had already reached the same conclusion.
