Maine Laundromat Owner Says She Was Tricked Into Starring in Troy Jackson Ad - Newsweek

A Maine Republican says she was tricked into appearing in an ad supporting Democratic Senate hopeful Troy Jackson, despite the fact that she is backing his rival, Senator Susan Collins, in the race.

Kelly Kusnirak told the Robinson Report, a news platform founded by Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson, that she thought she was being asked to appear in an ad for Collins when approached earlier this year. The Scarborough local said she was then shocked to discover that the ad was in support of the Democrat.

"I definitely feel like I was misled because when I did finally see the ad, I was like, 'Oh wow, look at that banner, Troy Jackson,'" she told the Robinson Report. "I was surprised to see that it was for Troy Jackson. Totally did not expect that. I thought it was going to be for Susan Collins."

Kusnirak is now appearing in a counter ad authorized and paid for by the Collins camp, in which she calls herself "not a Troy Jackson supporter at all" and asks viewers, "If they're willing to mislead me, how far will they go?"

Newsweek has contacted the Jackson campaign for comment.

The original ad was paid for by the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC, or CFFE PAC, and it noted in a disclaimer that it was "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee." The ad showed Kusnirak sitting in her laundromat while discussing the cost of living in Maine, before a message appears saying, "Susan Collins is too expensive for Maine."

"Rent is not affordable. Buying a house is not affordable. Gas prices are high. Food prices are high. Everything is high," Kusnirak said in the ad. "But do our wages go up, do we have good jobs in Maine? No."

"Nothing is affordable in Maine, and Washington politicians like Susan Collins are making it worse," CFFE PAC captioned the 30-second ad on social media, adding: "We need lower prices, not foreign wars. Vote Troy Jackson for Senate."

CFFE PAC has spent close to $1.8 million in the Maine Senate race, according to its expenditure filings with the Federal Election Commission. This includes ads and other campaigning material that both oppose Collins and endorse Jackson.

According to Kusnirak, she was approached in March or April by a videographer who said he was working for the Collins campaign.

"I said yes because I support Susan," Kusnirak said in a statement to the Robinson Report. "I had no idea that months later my face and my words would show up in an ad for her opponent. I feel like I was duped."

Phoebe Kilgour, the deputy executive director for CFFE PAC, told Newsweek the group had spoken to "thousands of people across Maine who are struggling with the affordability crisis and hold Susan Collins responsible for rising costs on everything from gas to groceries." She denied that the group misled Kusnirak "about the video she recorded when we talked to her," but said that CFFE had pulled the ad "out of respect for her concerns."

Kusnirak said that, rather than Collins, she blames the state's current affordability woes on "our legislature in Augusta," adding that the incumbent senator "always puts Maine first."

Aside from the latest reporting, attack ads have emerged as a major point of interest in the Maine Senate race. In early October, a GOP-aligned super PAC told Newsweek it had mistakenly paid for ads attacking Jackson in Portland, Oregon, rather than in Portland, Maine.

Both candidates have decried what they see as the distasteful nature of certain spots, with Collins complaining that the contest has been "unique in Maine's history in the number of personal attacks."

Jackson, who was president of the Maine Senate from 2018 to 2024, has on several occasions called his opponent corrupt, accusing her of profiting from her U.S. Senate seat. Meanwhile Collins, who has held the seat since 1997, has mentioned reports that Jackson's partner, Lana Pelletier, is his cousin.

The Senate Leadership Fund recently aired a satirical song on Maine radio that called Jackson a "creep" who has "two kids with his cousin." Collins was not connected to the ad and said it should be pulled.

According to the University of Florida's Election Lab, 243,608 mail-in ballots have already been returned as of Wednesday, with Election Day less than a week away on November 3.

Polls continue to show a close contest for the seat—one of seven considered crucial in determining which party controls the upper chamber for the remainder of President Donald Trump's term—though Jackson has held a slight edge in most.

An Echelon Insights survey of 413 Maine likely voters between October 16 and October 23 gave Jackson a 7-point lead over Collins—51 percent to 44 percent—falling just outside the poll's 6.3 percent margin of error. A Marist University poll, conducted among 1,449 likely voters from October 22 to October 25 and also released on Tuesday, had Jackson at 49 percent and Collins at 47 percent. The poll had a 6.6-point margin of error.

A CNN/SSRS poll released on Thursday again showed that there is no "clear leader" in the race. The survey, which had a 4.5-point margin of error, showed Jackson at 49 percent and Collins at 45 percent. Of the 783 likely voters surveyed in Maine between October 20 and October 26, over nine in 10 said they were certain of their choice.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Shakeema Edwards.