Could three words — “Oh, shut up” — end up defining Democrat Troy Jackson as a candidate for US Senate — and with that definition, reelect Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine to a sixth term? They could.
Last week, when a protester interrupted a debate between the two candidates, Collins said, “So this is obviously one of Troy’s supporters,” to which Jackson responded “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.” The first three words of his response have ricocheted around the political world ever since, especially since he declined to apologize or back down in any way.
When asked if he had any regrets on CNN’s State of the Union, Jackson said, “I mean, she accused me of setting that up. I had no idea who it was. I mean, I was surprised whenever he jumped up out of there. You know, I’ve had four debates with Senator Collins. I’ve shook her hand afterward every time. But what I’m not going to be is, you know, talked down to by Senator Collins. I’m not going to, you know, be accused of things like that. I mean, I’m fighting for Mainers, and, you know, I mean, I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me. So I’m not going to apologize for that, no.”
Wrong answer. Jackson should have simply apologized and chalked it up to a poor choice of words in the heat of the moment.
There’s no evidence that Jackson or his campaign played a role in encouraging the protester. The New York Times identified him as Henry Elgie, 19, a Bowdoin College student, who told the Times he had “zero coordination” with Jackson’s campaign, adding that “I do not know Troy Jackson personally or at all. But I think he should be winning.” The Sunrise Movement, an organization focused on climate change, identified him as a volunteer on Instagram.
If you watch the exchange, it does not look like Jackson was being “talked down to by Collins.” It seemed more like she was trying to be slightly humorous. Collins has seized on the exchange as an example of how Jackson treats women, telling Fox News, “the fact that it seemed like such an automatic, quick reply was very telling.”
On its own, the phrase might just be one bad debate moment. Unfortunately for Jackson, it allows voters to connect back to at least one other bad moment involving a woman.
Numerous readers emailed me about the exchange because it just so happens that on the basis of a previous debate, I described Jackson as “decent but slightly dull.” Taking issue with “decent,” some readers asked why I failed to mention a 2021 incident when Jackson was president of the state Senate and reportedly threw a half-empty water bottle when he couldn’t convince a female legislator to vote his way. Witnesses told the Times it did not hit her. One witness said it was more like a pitcher throwing a baseball glove in disgust. He later apologized for it.
I was trying to make the case that Jackson isn’t Graham Platner, a more exciting Democrat who exited the race after a series of controversies that included a Nazi-themed tattoo, racist and sexist Reddit posts, and an accusation of rape, which he denied. But I should have mentioned what a Jackson campaign adviser described to The Washington Post as “moments when he let his frustration get the better of him.”
Now, with temperament in the mix, can Jackson still be viewed as a decent guy? If a person admits their shortcomings and pledges to improve, yes. Of course, it helps if his politics align with the person judging him.
A committed Jackson supporter will say “Oh, shut up” and the tossed water bottle fall far short of Platner’s conduct, not to mention far short of Republican behavior in the White House and elsewhere. At a rally after the debate, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Jackson was “not a polished politician” but that “the people of Maine know who he is and that’s what matters.”
Warren is right. But if that debate moment reinforces a perception with Maine voters that Jackson has a temper issue, especially with women, it might affect the vote.
A recent Suffolk poll puts Jackson ahead of Collins by two points, with support from 52 percent of women who were surveyed.
Democrats are hoping the issue of abortion rights will convince women to back Jackson over Collins, because of her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court’s subsequent overturning of Roe v. Wade. As she has pointed out, however, Jackson has evolved from antiabortion to pro-abortion rights.
Collins also has a history of coming from behind and winning on election day.
Jackson might have changed the post-debate analysis with three different words: “I am sorry.”
Instead, it looks like stubbornness and pride won out over pragmatism and humility. So for now, he’s stuck with “Oh, shut up” as a possibly defining moment in the final weeks before a high-stakes election to win back the Senate for Democrats.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.