Overview
- Thursday’s reporting by CNN and the Bangor Daily News connected the 2012 handle “Canadians for LePage” to Troy Jackson using an email address tied to his campaign and public records.
- Journalists traced the account through credentials from a 2012 Disqus data breach preserved in archives and by locating about 24 archived comments still online.
- The preserved posts show an online persona of a Canadian logger that mocked then‑Gov. Paul LePage and offered partisan taunts and occasional defenses of Jackson’s positions.
- Jackson is the official Democratic nominee to challenge Sen. Susan Collins after Graham Platner withdrew earlier in July, and his campaign has defended his record in response to the disclosures.
- Coverage compares these archived comments to the more inflammatory online posts that sank the prior nominee and says the revelations could affect vetting, national endorsements, fundraising, and how Democrats handle Jackson’s short fall campaign.