Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, apologized Wednesday for saying in a TV interview this week that some Jewish Mainers choose not to accuse the Israeli government of carrying out a genocide in Gaza “only because they’re Jewish.”
In a statement, Mr. Jackson said he “misspoke,” describing his comments as a “generalization about Jewish Mainers’ views” that did not reflect the message he had intended to express.
“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,” Mr. Jackson, a progressive Democrat who is challenging the Republican senator Susan Collins in a race critical to determining which party controls the Senate, said in a statement.
Mr. Jackson added: “I apologize for the pain that caused. Mainers hold a range of deeply considered views, and I promise I will always listen and work to approach these conversations with the care and respect they deserve.”
In the interview, given to WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine, and filmed Monday, Mr. Jackson, a logger and former State Senate president, reiterated his position that the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza amounted to a genocide.
“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,” Mr. Jackson said in the interview, which was released Tuesday. “It fits that description. And it is — it’s an unbelievable thing that’s happened there that people that are innocent are being murdered, and it is a genocide.”
Phil Hirschkorn, the interviewer, responded, “Even though Hamas and Gaza started the war by massacring 1,200 Israelis — many civilians, women and children?”
Mr. Jackson nodded.
“You could argue the same thing for Hamas, too,” he said. “There’s people that are wrong on both sides of this issue. But in the end senseless murders, horrific murders, are happening to both sides. And that has to stop.”
Mr. Jackson added that the United States should stop sending what he described as “blank checks” to the Israeli government. The United States spent more than $20 billion on military aid to Israel between fall 2023 and fall 2025, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project.
The use of the term genocide became a dividing line in some Democratic primary races this year, with left-wing Democrats tending to use it, and more moderate candidates typically avoiding it.
In the spring, a United Nations report accused Israel of committing a genocide. Israel has forcefully pushed back against accusations that it carried out a genocide through its war in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week that “accusing Israel of genocide is the greatest lie of the century.” More than 70,000 Palestinians were killed during the war, according to Gaza health officials.
Mr. Jackson’s comments quickly became a topic of conversation locally, said Jamie Isaacson, 72, a Democrat from Portland who is Jewish. Mr. Isaacson said he was “dumbfounded” and “disappointed” by Mr. Jackson’s comments.
“How do you say that to Jews in this country?” Mr. Isaacson said, adding that he was not sure how to feel about the apology. “Once somebody says something, it’s kind of hard to take it back.”
Rabbi Andy Bachman, the scholar-in-residence at the Maine Jewish Museum and a Portland Democrat, said Mr. Jackson’s comments were “insulting,” and that it was “condescending” for Mr. Jackson to “presume such a broad notion of how Jewish Mainers feel and absorb and understand the lessons of the Holocaust.”
A representative for Ms. Collins did not respond to a request for comment. Ms. Collins, a five-term senator, has described herself as a strong supporter of Israel.
About 1 percent of Maine’s approximately 1.4 million residents are Jewish, according to the Pew Research Center.
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