Troy Jackson (politician)

Jackson was born to a 16-year-old mother in Fort Kent, Maine, and was raised Catholic.^[6]

Jackson first ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2000 for Maine House District 151, as a Republican, narrowly losing to Marc Michaud, a Democrat, 2,017–2,172.^[7] Two years later, he was elected to House District 151 as an Independent, defeating the incumbent Michaud 2,171–1,176 in a race with no Republican candidate.^[8] He was the first non-Democrat to represent the area since 1978,^[9] but joined the Democratic Party in early 2004.^[5] That year, after Maine's post-census legislative redistricting, Jackson ran for re-election in the new House District 1 as a Democrat. He won a resounding victory against Republican Paul Berube, by a margin of 3,486 to 1,248.^[10] He was re-elected to the State House unopposed in 2006.^[11]

In 2008, Jackson ran for and won Maine State Senate District 35, defeating Republican Daniel DeVeau 11,188–6,593.^[12] He would be re-elected in 2010 by defeating DeVeau 7,525–5,620 in a rematch, holding the seat amidst a Republican wave that saw the GOP claim its first government trifecta in Maine since 1963.^[13] He would be re-elected again in 2012 by a narrow 8,521–8,016 margin over Republican Peter Edgecomb.^[14] Democrats regained control of the Maine Senate in that election, and in December 2012, Jackson was elected Assistant Majority Leader of the State Senate after the Democrats. On July 10, 2013, Jackson was elected Majority Leader of the Maine Senate after the departure of fellow Democrat Seth Goodall, who resigned to accept a presidential appointment overseeing the New England region of the Small Business Administration.^[15][16]

On July 1, 2013, following incumbent Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud's decision to explore running for Governor, Jackson announced he would run for Maine's 2nd congressional district, which had been Michaud's seat since 2003.^[17] On June 10, 2014, Jackson lost the primary to fellow State Senator Emily Cain, receiving 21% of the vote to Cain's 79%.^[18] Cain would go on to lose the general election to Republican Bruce Poliquin.

On January 25, 2015, Jackson was elected as a member of the Democratic National Committee.^[19] This gave him a superdelegate vote at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He was one of only a handful of superdelegates to endorse and vote for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.^[20]

In November 2016, Jackson was re-elected to the Senate, in what was now the 1st District, over Republican Timothy Guerrette^[21] and a week later he was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the Senate Minority Leader.^[22] He would be re-elected as Senator of the 1st District in 2018, 2020, and 2022,^[23][24][25] becoming the Senate President as the Democrats would gain the majority in 2018 and retain it in 2020 and 2022.

Jackson left the Maine Senate following the 2024 election due to term limits. He was succeeded as Senator for the 1st District by Republican Susan Y. Bernard and as Senate President by Democrat Mattie Daughtry.

On March 7, 2025, Jackson announced he was formally exploring a run for Governor of Maine in the 2026 election.^[26] He officially announced his candidacy on May 19.^[27]

He is an advocate for health care and workers rights, especially for fellow loggers. In 2010, Jackson wrote a bill which would have "prohibited the Maine Department of Conservation from employing foreign laborers at state-owned logging sites". It passed both the House of Representatives and the State Senate before being vetoed by Governor Paul LePage. LePage questioned the bill's constitutionality while Jackson said that LePage was favoring large Canadian logging corporations over American workers.^[28]

Jackson previously held socially conservative positions on abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, which he attributed to his Roman Catholic upbringing,^[6] but over time became a staunch supporter of both.^[29][30]

In June 2013, Jackson called LePage "obstructionist" and "delusional" regarding discussions about the 2013–2014 state budget. LePage responded by saying that Jackson "claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline", as well as saying Jackson had a "black heart".^[31]

During the 2016 presidential election, Jackson was a prominent supporter of U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders' campaign and cast his superdelegate vote for him at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.^[20] He was chosen to introduce Sanders at a campaign rally before 8,000 supporters in Portland, Maine on July 6, 2015.^[32] During the 2020 presidential election, Jackson again supported Sanders, and again addressed a Portland rally for Sanders on September 1, 2019.^[33] After the primaries, Jackson threw his support behind the Democratic ticket of Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris.^[34]

Sanders would return the favor by endorsing Jackson's 2026 gubernatorial campaign on May 21, 2025.^[35] On Labor Day 2025, Sanders headlined a Portland campaign rally for Jackson and U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, attended by 6,500 supporters.^[36]

Jackson attended Allagash Consolidated Community High School before obtaining an A.A. in business from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He lives in Allagash, Maine.^[37]