Augusta, Maine - Troy Jackson, Maine's new Democratic candidate for the US Senate, admitted in an interview on Tuesday he was "wrong" to oppose abortion more than a decade ago.

"I was wrong," Jackson told MS NOW's Morning Joe program on Tuesday. "But I'm very proud of my record over the last decade or more fighting for access across the state."

The revelation comes as Jackson's Republican opponent and incumbent Senator Susan Collins is on the march for dirt she can use against him over the roughly 100 days left until the midterm elections in November.

Having entered the race late due to Graham Platner's sexual assault-fueled resignation earlier this month, Jackson is likely seeking to head off potential angles of attack and clearly define his campaign against Collins.

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Jackson was first elected to Maine's state House of Representatives as an independent in 2002, before joining the Democratic Party in 2004 and eventually entering the Senate in 2008. He became Senate minority leader in 2016.

As recently as 2013, Jackson identified himself as strictly anti-abortion, believing that such services should be illegal except in cases of rape and incest.

This had changed by 2023, however, when he co-sponsored a bill expanding abortion access across Maine.

"I wasn’t really clear on reproductive rights," Jackson told Morning Joe, referring to views he held early on in his career.

"When I understood, you know, it became clear that abortion access is healthcare, it just – it just changed for me," he said.

"When Susan Collins was helping overturn Roe v. Wade," he continued, "I cosponsored one of the most progressive reproductive rights bills in the country [and] fought incredibly hard for it."