An Ad Targeting Susan Collins’s Opponent, Troy Jackson, Airs in the Wrong Portland

Key Points:

• A Republican super PAC, Defending Main Street, mistakenly ran an attack ad against Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson in Portland, Oregon, reaching over a million viewers there instead of targeting Maine voters.
• The $25,900 ad buy error was attributed by the super PAC's CFO to its ad-buying vendor, Cross Screen Media, which has since refunded the money and corrected the campaign to focus on Maine.
• The ad criticized Jackson for supporting tax increases, a point also used by Senator Susan Collins, though she was not named; Jackson contends he only supports tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations.
• The ad misplacement sparked social media reactions highlighting the geographic error, and Jackson's campaign used the mistake to criticize Collins and her allies for being out of touch with Maine.
• Despite the blunder, the super PAC has spent nearly $947,000 on other anti-Jackson ads in Maine, indicating the Oregon ad was an isolated incident rather than a strategic national campaign.