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The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, Troy Jackson, apologized for remarks in which he said he believed Jewish residents of Maine were rejecting the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza because of the Jewish persecution during the Holocaust.
In comments to Jewish Insider, Jackson said he had misspoken, stating that he apologized “for the pain that caused.”
“I believe what’s happening in Gaza is genocide, and I also understand that word carries particular weight for many Jewish families given the Holocaust — the genocide of six million Jews. In trying to acknowledge that, I misspoke and made a generalization about Jewish Mainers’ views that doesn’t reflect what I mean to say,” Jackson said in a statement.
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Jackson’s remarks sparked immediate backlash Tuesday on social media.
“This statement cannot be real. It must be a dark dark dark parody,” Dan Senor, the co-author of “The Genius of Israel,” wrote on X.
“Completely out of the closet,” Fox News host Mark Levin wrote on X.
“Dude could get a matching tattoo,” Fox News political analyst Guy Benson wrote on X, referring to Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo.
“Jackson should not be within 10’points of [Sen. Susan Collins] when the totals post, just as Collins blew out the polls six years ago. Jackson is dull and ill-informed —cliche volcano, mostly spewing out of DSA-rewrites,” Fox News contributor and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote on X.
“Well, that’s a sh—y thing to say,” former GOP congressman and anti-Trump personality Joe Walsh wrote on X.
“Bro what,” GOP consultant Matt Whitlock wrote on X.
Jackson’s apology attempts to salvage political damage from his broad remarks about the Jewish community as he wages a nationally watched Senate race in a bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, which is a highly competitive race. It also underscores the challenge Democrats face as they look to condemn what they see as humanitarian concerns in Israel’s war in Gaza while, at the same time, expressing sensitivity to the antisemitism Jewish communities still face elsewhere in the world.
Jackson, a former gubernatorial candidate who received the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) earlier this year, became the party nominee to replace former candidate Graham Platner. Platner abandoned his Senate campaign after news of past aggressive behavior to women and an allegation of sexual assault sparked concerns among top party leaders. For his own part, Platner denied any wrongdoing.
But since securing the nomination at a Maine Democratic convention in late July, Jackson has sought to continue many of Platners’ progressive policy items, such as passing Medicare for all, increasing taxes on the country’s top earners and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
He has also continued Platner’s position on Israel.
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Like many other progressives that align with the DSA, Jackson has listed ending U.S. aid to Israel among those other top priorities and, in his interview earlier this week, reiterated that stance in an interview on Tuesday with local media before making his comment about the Jewish community in Maine.
He was asked what he sees as the greatest foreign policy challenge facing the United States.
Jackson began answering by reiterating his cautious posture towards the U.S. – Israel relationship and his hesitancy to write a “blank check” in support of Bejamine Netanyahu’s government — someone Jackson maintains is a war criminal. He also remarked that, despite what he saw as clear evidence, some voters wouldn’t frame the conflict in those terms.
“It’s unfortunate that there are people here in Maine that don’t like to use that term only because they’re Jewish and what that means to them with the Holocaust. It fits that description. It is. It’s an unbelievable thing that’s happened there that people that are innocent are being murdered and it is a genocide,” Jackson said.
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Jackson’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on questions about whether he had faced pressure from other Democrats to issue an apology.
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Having secured the nomination, Jackson will face off against Collins in the Nov. 3 general election.
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