My family has been dragged into this campaign. After months of attacks, I want to speak for myself.

My family has been dragged into this campaign. After months of attacks, I want to speak for myself.

Guest article by Lana Pelletier, a licensed clinical social worker from Allagash, Maine, and the longtime partner of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson.

Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine Troy Jackson addresses a crowd of supporters during a rally while campaigning with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), in Lewiston, Maine, US, October 11, 2026. REUTERS/CJ Gunther

When Troy first talked to me about running for the U.S. Senate, we started with what it would mean for our family.

We knew it wouldn’t be easy. We knew the race could get ugly.

But I never imagined Susan Collins and her allies would stoop this low.

As a social worker and therapist, I’ve mostly stayed out of the public eye. My work is private, and I want the people I work with to know the focus is on them — not my politics or my partner’s career.

But over the last few months, people who do not know me have increasingly tried to tell the public who I am, what my relationship has been, and what kind of family Troy and I have built together.

Senator Collins has brought our family into this campaign herself. She has ridiculed us publicly, invoked my children in debates, and treated deeply personal parts of our lives as fair game for political attack.

I know Troy. We’ve been together for nearly 40 years. He is my partner, the father of our children, and now a grandfather to our beautiful newborn granddaughter.

I also know myself. I am not the person Susan Collins and her allies seem determined to turn me into.

I am not a helpless woman who needs politicians to tell the world what happened in my own life. And I am not a punchline or a caricature of where I come from.

I’ve spent my career helping people navigate some of the hardest moments of their lives. That work has taught me to take allegations involving violence and abuse seriously — and how much care is required when we talk about it.

That is part of what makes what is happening now so upsetting.

Earlier this year, a police report from nearly four decades ago became part of this campaign. There was a fight between Troy and another young man when Troy was 19 years old. He took accountability for that and has never hidden it. The report included statements attributed to me that I’ve already said I don’t remember making and that are not accurate.

I’m now forced to say it again because Susan Collins and her allies are using my family to tell a story that simply isn’t true.

I’ve spent nearly four decades with Troy since then. I know the life we have actually lived, the family we have raised, and the person Troy has been through the years as a caring partner and father.

Our children have been dragged into this campaign. Our relationship has been mocked. Our family has been talked about as though there is something shameful about who we are or where we come from.

There isn’t.

I’m proud of our children.

I’m proud of the life Troy and I have built together.

I’m proud of how Troy continues to evolve and grow as a leader and advocate.

And I deeply resent watching Collins and her allies treat our lives as something beneath them — especially when serious issues involving women are manipulated into political weapons by people who show so little care for the women involved.

If Susan Collins truly cared about my voice, she could have listened to it.

Instead, they’ve decided they know my life better than I do.

They do not.

This is not the first time Senator Collins has asked women to trust her while ignoring what they were telling her. She voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, who helped overturn Roe, and still says she does not regret it. Women warned her what was at stake. She did not listen to them either.

I was not pushing Troy to run. But I understood that if people were hurting and he could help, it was bigger than any one of us.

When Troy sees somebody without much power being treated unfairly, he feels it deeply. And he has spent much of his life trying to do something about it.

There are families across Maine struggling to afford health care, heating oil, and groceries. Their lives matter more than the ugliness of a political campaign.

Those are the people Troy is running for.

I don’t expect everyone in Maine to agree with Troy.

Ask him hard questions. Challenge his record. Disagree with him.

But there should still be a line.

Senator Collins has been quick to demand respect and decency for herself. My family deserved the same.

I stayed quiet because I never wanted this election to be about me. Susan Collins and her allies made a different choice.

So if my name, my relationship, and my family are going to be used to tell a story that isn’t true, Mainers deserve to hear from the person who actually lived that story.

I know my own life. I know my family.

And after nearly 40 years with Troy, I know who he is, too.

Lana Pelletier is a licensed clinical social worker from Allagash and the longtime partner of U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson. They have two adult sons.

About Troy Jackson

Troy Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from Allagash and the former President of the Maine Senate. A lifelong advocate for labor and working families, Jackson has spent his career fighting for a fairer, more affordable Maine. As Senate President, he helped pass universal school meals, historic child care investments, a 12-week paid family and medical leave program, and some of the strongest abortion protections in the country. He is running for the U.S. Senate to ensure that the voices of everyday Mainers are heard in Washington.