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Collins Super PAC's Attack Ads Target Wrong Portland by 3,000 Miles

Defending Main Street spent thousands on anti-Jackson ads meant for Maine voters but delivered them to Portland, Oregon instead.

newest coverage 6h agosummary written 1d ago162 pieces5.6k likes & upvotes322 comments MastodonXNewswiresBlueskyRedditGoogle News

Part of a larger narrative

Maine Senate 2024

4 stories · since Oct 2 · newest 6h ago — The race between incumbent Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate is tightening, with major endorsements and polling…

  1. Collins Super PAC's Attack Ads Target Wrong Portland by 3,000 Milesyou are here
  2. Ossoff and Collins clash bitterly in first Georgia Senate debate
  3. Susan Collins defends quiet, behind-the-scenes pushback against Trump ahead of Maine debates
  4. New poll shows Collins-Jackson Maine Senate race deadlocked

What to know

  • A Collins-aligned super PAC meant to attack Jackson in Maine's Senate race instead delivered over 1 million ad impressions to Portland, Oregon, wasting thousands of dollars.
  • The error—discovered when an X user spotted the ads in the wrong state—highlights operational failures in a cycle that has made Maine one of the top spending targets nationally.
  • The race between Collins and Jackson, who replaced a candidate who dropped out over sexual assault allegations, is now in its final weeks before the November 3 midterm election.

“We have billionaires with no connection to Maine spending millions of dollars to buy Susan Collins the election, so it's pretty hilarious to see them throwing money at the wrong Portland.”

Andy O'Brien, Political operative supporting Jackson · The Intercept ↗

Defending Main Street Republican super PACTroy JacksonTroy Jackson Democratic Maine Senate candidateSusan CollinsSusan Collins Incumbent Republican SenatorAndy O'Brien Political operative supporting Jackson

Collins Super PAC's Attack Ads Target Wrong Portland by 3,000 Miles
theintercept.com

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments

Peak 33 pieces in one hour at Oct 12, 4 PM; 162 pieces over 2 days (32 articles · 26 posts · 104 comments) Oct 11, 7 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Mastodon 1Oct 11, 8 PM — quietOct 11, 9 PM — quietOct 11, 10 PM — quietOct 11, 11 PM — quietOct 12, 12 AM — quietOct 12, 1 AM — quietOct 12, 2 AM — quietOct 12, 3 AM — quietOct 12, 4 AM — quietOct 12, 5 AM — quietOct 12, 6 AM — quietOct 12, 7 AM — quietOct 12, 8 AM — quietOct 12, 9 AM — quietOct 12, 10 AM — quietOct 12, 11 AM — 11 pieces · 11 articles — Newswires 11Oct 12, 12 PM — 3 pieces · 1 article · 2 posts — Mastodon 1, Reddit 1, X 1Oct 12, 1 PM — 3 pieces · 1 article · 2 posts — Mastodon 2, Bluesky 1Oct 12, 2 PM — 31 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post · 28 comments — Bluesky 29, Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Oct 12, 3 PM — 23 pieces · 2 articles · 6 posts · 15 comments — Bluesky 15, Mastodon 4, Reddit 2, +1 moreOct 12, 4 PM — 33 pieces · 6 articles · 3 posts · 24 comments — Bluesky 24, Google News 3, Newswires 3, +2 moreOct 12, 5 PM — 18 pieces · 2 articles · 2 posts · 14 comments — Bluesky 14, Newswires 2, Mastodon 1, +1 moreOct 12, 6 PM — 11 pieces · 1 post · 10 comments — Bluesky 10, Mastodon 1Oct 12, 7 PM — 7 pieces · 1 article · 2 posts · 4 comments — Bluesky 4, Mastodon 2, Newswires 1Oct 12, 8 PM — 4 pieces · 1 post · 3 comments — Bluesky 3, Mastodon 1Oct 12, 9 PM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Bluesky 1Oct 12, 10 PM — 2 pieces · 2 comments — Bluesky 2Oct 12, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Bluesky 1Yesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 9 AM — 4 pieces · 4 articles — Newswires 4Yesterday, 10 AM — 2 pieces · 1 post · 1 comment — Bluesky 1, Reddit 1Yesterday, 11 AM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Mastodon 1, Reddit 1Yesterday, 12 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 1 PM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Bluesky 1Yesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Yesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 1 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 3 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quiet 12
Oct 12yesterdaynow · 5:05 AM ET
  1. 2

    Andy O'Brien highlights wastefulness and ignorance of Maine

    Political operative Andy O'Brien, who supports Jackson, expressed mockery at the error and criticized the super PAC's lack of knowledge about Maine while attacking what he called billionaire spending to 'buy Susan Collins the election.'

    “We have billionaries with no connection to Maine spending millions of dollars to buy Susan Collins the election, so it's pretty hilarious to see them throwing money at the wrong Portland.”
    — Andy O'Brien

    • 🚨 BREAKING: Republicans spent over $20k on anti-Troy Jackson ads in the wrong state. They presumably confused Portland, Maine with Portland, Oregon

      @GOP__LsX1d ago1.8k▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 117 posts in this stretch
    • theintercept.com

      The group Defending Main Street, long associated with Susan Collins, spent thousands attacking Troy Jackson in the wrong state.

      theintercept.comBluesky1d ago329▲view on Bluesky ↗
    • MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social

      BWAHAHA! Once again, almost everyone left defending Trump is a fucking moron. They don't even know whether to run a Susan Collins ad in Portland, Maine, or Portland, Oregon. The Oregonians who saw the ad must have split their sides laughing. https:// newrepublic.com/post/216529/re publican-group-spends-thousands-susan-collins-portland-oregon #…

      MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.socialMastodon17h ago70▲view on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. 1

    Defending Main Street buys attack ads targeting wrong Portland

    The super PAC spent thousands of dollars on a video ad attacking Democratic Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson on taxes and cost of living, but the ad was delivered to digital audiences in Portland, Oregon—more than 3,000 miles away—instead of Portland, Maine. The ad ran more than 1 million times in the wrong state, according to Google data.

    1. 4 outlets Susan Collins-Aligned Super PAC Buys Attack Ads in Portland… Oregon

      first by Mastodon, 1d ago · also Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Intercept

      2 more headlines
    2. 3 outlets Wrong Portland: Ad targeting opponent of Maine Sen. Susan Collins reportedly ran in Oregon

      first by KGW, 1d ago · also NYT, Snopes

      2 more headlines
    4 more claims →

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 4 outlets Pro-Susan Collins Group Spends $25,000 in the Wrong Portland

    first by Newsweek, 1d ago · also New Republic, Independent UK, NBC News

    4 more headlines
  2. 3 outlets A political ad attacking Susan Collins’ opponent just aired in the wrong city: ‘I’m really upset’

    first by Cleveland.com, 19h ago · also PennLive, MassLive

and 1 smaller piece

What people are saying 21 voices from 2 sites · best of 117 · verbatim