CNN's Cornish Scolds Conservative: It's ‘A Little Classist’ to Find Cousin Marriage Abnormal

Terry Schilling Antjuan Seawright CNN This Morning 10-28-26

On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish jumped in to brand conservative activist Terry Schilling “classist” for describing the man in a Susan Collins ad as a “normal” guy who, among other things, does not have two kids with his second cousin.

The ad targets Maine Democrat Troy Jackson, where a man says "we're not talking about buying a cord of wood here," and says Jackson doesn't have the "tools" to be effective." 

Cornish, stopping short of rubbing her partisan hands in glee, suggested: "With heating oil and kerosene prices at an all-time high in Maine, the economy being the top issue for voters, could this be a fatal mistake for Collins' campaign?" How about Jackson, after telling Collins to her face to “shut up,” recently claiming she kisses Trump’s “ass.” No word from Audie on what sort of mistake that was.

Schilling, a member of the MRC board, noted the ad’s intent to portray Jackson as outside mainstream norms, specifically citing the cousin relationship. Cornish immediately interjected that Schilling’s framing was classist.

SCHILLING: Look, she's going after the normal voters in Maine.

CORNISH: What does normal mean, Terry?

SCHILLING: Normal means you look normal and you don't marry your cousin. That is what that means. I know, I know, but listen.

CORNISH [sing-songy]: That sounds a little classist!

SCHILLING: No, no, stop, stop.

CORNISH: Sounds a little classist!

SCHILLING: No. No classes marry their cousins in this country.

CORNISH: Oh-kay.

The implication is that objecting to cousins having kids is an elitist sneer at ordinary people. To be precise, Jackson and his cousin Lana Pelletier have been together nearly 40 years, but did not get married.

One could just as easily flip the charge: Does Audie see most Mainers as the great unwashed, content with very flexible standards for marriage partners? The former NPR host has a resume in elitist sneering.

Before that, Cornish sought to bolster Texas Democrat James Talarico’s crossover appeal by citing the Austin American-Statesman. The paper, she said, found a Republican who is voting for Talarico because he “represents Republican values.”

That Republican is former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips. His column cites limited government and free enterprise as examples of the GOP principles he sees in Talarico.

Talarico’s positions utterly contradict those principles. In a 2020 Sierra Club Zoom, he described capitalism as part of an “oppressive system” of white supremacy that needed to be dismantled. Because nothing says "free markets" like dismantling capitalism!

As for limited government, Talarico's platform calls for medical-debt cancellation, universal childcare, paid family leave, down-payment assistance, and other expansions of government spending. While Talarico has tried to backtrack for political purposes, his historic support for men in women’s sports, his view that God is non-binary, and that there are more than six sexes remain way out of line with Texas Republican principles.

Phillips has also endorsed the Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general this cycle. A Republican endorsing one Democrat? Mebbe. But two in one cycle? That puts you firmly in Republican-in-Name-Only territory.

Cornish presented both moments as straightforward reporting. In Maine, she treated a conservative’s objection to cousin marriage as classist. In Texas, she cited a former Republican justice who claims Talarico represents GOP values, even as the Democrat’s record emphatically reveals the opposite.

From Maine to Texas, Cornish was campaigning hard for the Democrats. Good thing Audie wasn't within 100 feet of a polling place—she might have run afoul of the law!

Here’s the transcript.

CNN This Morning
10/28/26
6:03 am EDT

JULIA MANCHESTER: Secretary of State, any cabinet official, has to walk a very fine line when it comes to appearing on the campaign trail. Rubio was not expected to make any remarks. However, he delivered 11 second remarks there. I think he's palatable to people. He's popular, obviously, within the base, but he's palatable to people outside of the base. That's very pop -- you know, important in a state like Texas, particularly with the all-important Hispanic and Latino vote there.

AUDIE CORNISH: Well, also with Republicans, right? Because we've got this situation where you have Talarico able to turn out these Republicans who are going public saying they're backing him. Not just Bush dynasty folks, the most recent, in the Austin American Statesman, where you've got a Republican saying, I care about GOP values, that's why I'm voting for Talarico. Which I found really interesting. The division there in the party is also affecting this process.

TERRY SCHILLING: Yeah, look, Paxton has taken on several big enemies of the Republican Party, and a lot of these Republicans that are criticized –

AUDIE CORNISH: To the point where he was impeached at one point, right?

. . .

CORNISH  So with less than a week to go in the midterms, already some 34 million ballots cast across the country.

Meanwhile, in Maine, things are heating up. Susan Collins hitting Troy Jackson for his working-class roots, and here is her new attack ad.

MAN IN COLLINS AD: Susan Collins is one of the most decent and honest people I know. Now, I also know Troy Jackson, but we're not talking about buying a cord of wood here. We're sending someone to the U.S. Senate, and Troy doesn't have the tools he needs to be effective.

CORNISH: It didn't take long for Jackson to hit back.

TROY JACKSON: But this is about a cord of wood. It's about an economy that Senator Collins has created that people can't afford to heat their homes, and now, because of Senator Collins and voting for the Iran war five times, it's harder than ever.

CORNISH: With heating oil and kerosene prices at an all-time high in Maine, the economy being the top issue for voters, could this be a fatal mistake for Collins' campaign?

We're bringing in Rachel Siegel, she's a CNN business reporter joining the chat. I'm gonna come to you in a second, but first I have to come to Terry, because you make ads. So, you got a guy, V-neck sweater, very clean cut, he's not dragging any logs behind him, right? And he's doing the, reasonable people can agree. Who is the voter she's going for with that?

SCHILLING: Look, she's going after the normal voters in Maine.

CORNISH: What does normal mean, Terry?

SCHILLING: Normal means you look normal and you don't marry your cousin. That is what that means. I know, I know, but listen.

CORNISH: That sounds a little classist.

SCHILLIG: No, no, stop, stop.

CORNISH: Sounds a little classist.

SCHILLING: No. No classes marry their cousins in this country.

CORNISH: [sarcastically] Oh-kay.