The Dispute Index

Blake Kernen

Blake Kernen is a communications aide who has worked for Republican senators and campaigns. She has been press secretary to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and a spokesperson for Collins for Senator. She earlier worked as a spokeswoman for Larry Hogan's 2024 U.S. Senate campaign in Maryland, as a press secretary for the House Budget Committee and as a speechwriter and deputy press secretary for Sen. Steve Daines.

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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Blake Kernen on 2026 Midterm Elections, Campaign Finance, and U.S. Politics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Blake Kernen

Blake Kernen

Role at the time: Spokesperson for Collins for Senator

Condemned

Statement summary

Collins campaign spokesperson Blake Kernen says Jackson wants credit for refusing corporate-PAC checks while sharing an ad buy with the DSCC, which accepts them.

“Troy Jackson wants credit for refusing corporate PAC checks while enjoying an advertising partnership with a committee that cashes them”
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)Collins campaign challenges Jackson's corporate-PAC pledge and DSCC advertisementsOpening statement, advertising links and donor lists
Why we used this label

Reference point: whether the ads paid for by Women for Troy, the DSCC and Jackson's campaign break his pledge to reject corporate-PAC money. Kernen says the shared ad buy contradicts the pledge and criticizes Jackson for it. We used Condemned rather than Challenged the characterization because she faults the arrangement itself, not a description of it.

Read statementSusan Collins says Troy Jackson's joint ads with the DSCC break his corporate-PAC pledge; Jackson says he did not approve them

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.