Maine Democrat Troy Jackson told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he has zero regrets about snapping “Oh, shut up” at Sen. Susan Collins during their final Senate debate Thursday night in Bangor. Collins is the longest-serving Republican woman in Senate history, and she’s fighting to hold off Jackson’s challenge for a sixth term as the Nov. 3 election closes in.
Here’s what happened. A protester started yelling while Collins was speaking during the debate. As moderators worked to have the person removed, Collins said the demonstrator was “obviously one of Troy’s supporters.” Jackson fired back on the spot: “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.” Turns out he genuinely didn’t. The New York Times tracked down the protester, 19-year-old Bowdoin College student Henry Elgie, who told the paper he had “zero coordination” with Jackson’s campaign and “do not know Troy Jackson personally or at all.” The Sunrise Movement, a left-wing Green New Deal advocacy group, proudly claimed Elgie as one of its own volunteers on Instagram.
So Collins was wrong on the facts, but Jackson’s cool-headed response was, shall we say, a work in progress. You can read more about the Maine Senate debate exchange and how the whole ugly scene unfolded.
Collins went on Fox News and told Sean Hannity she was “struck by how reflective the response, ‘Oh, shut up,’ was,” adding that the quick, automatic reply was “very telling.” She also pointed to what she called Jackson’s “reputation” in the Legislature, “particularly when he’s dealing with women with whom he disagrees.” Some state lawmakers who worked with Jackson have backed her up, citing a temper that at one point had him throwing a plastic water bottle on the ground in frustration during a disagreement with a female lawmaker. Jackson took responsibility for that one and apologized at the time, and when asked about confrontations during the campaign he said, “I wear my heart on my sleeve.” He must wear his manners in his pants too, because he has a stinky attitude.
Democrats, the party who falsely supports women!
1) they can't identify a woman, and 2) when they do, they act like a baby when one wins a debate.
— Frank (@drastic215x) October 19, 2026
Jackson wasn’t backing down Sunday, though. “But what I’m not going to be is talked down to by Sen. Collins,” he told CNN. “I’m fighting for Mainers and I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me and I’m not going to apologize for that.” He also said Republicans have been spending millions “attacking me and my family, making untrue claims,” so none of the criticism surprised him. He did note, to his credit, that he shook hands with Collins after each of their debates.
So to recap: a left-wing climate activist crashed the debate, the Sunrise Movement bragged about it on Instagram, Collins called it wrong, and Jackson’s big rebuttal was “shut up.” Democrats really do run the classiest campaigns. With the Nov. 3 election just around the corner, expect Collins to keep making the case that Maine deserves a senator whose first instinct under pressure isn’t to tell a colleague to pipe down on live television.
