Troy Dale Jackson (born June 26, 1968) is an American politician and logger. He served in the Maine Senate from 2008 to 2014 and from 2016 to 2024, representing parts of northern Aroostook County. He was the Senate president and majority leader from 2018 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the party's nominee for the 2026 United States Senate election in Maine.
Jackson started in politics during a 1998 logging blockade along the Canada–United States border, protesting the entry of Canadian temporary workers, who were being hired over Maine loggers, by blocking them from crossing the border. He first ran for office as a Republican, was first elected as an Independent, and then joined the Democratic Party in 2004. In 2002, Jackson was elected as an Independent to the Maine House of Representatives. He served three terms there and was elected to the State Senate in 2008. Jackson became the minority leader in 2016 and was chosen as the majority leader and Senate president after Democrats gained the majority in the 2018 election. He was a strong supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Jackson is a progressive Democrat and supports Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, ending arms sales to Israel, expanding worker rights, banning certain purchases by non-Maine firms of starter homes, and an increased lodging tax on out-of-state visitors. He strongly supports abortion rights and LGBTQ rights after having opposed them in his early career.
Jackson was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2014 Democratic primary for Maine's 2nd congressional district, losing to Emily Cain. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Maine in 2026, finishing third in the Democratic primary with 29% of the vote. When Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for the 2026 United States Senate election, withdrew his candidacy, Jackson launched a successful candidacy for the Democratic nomination. He faces incumbent Republican Susan Collins in the general election.
Early life and education
Jackson was born on June 26, 1968 in Fort Kent, Maine, on the state's border with Canada. His mother, Colleen McBreairty, was a teacher and his father, Joe Jackson, was a logger. His parents married when they were young and his mother had him when she was 16. He grew up in Allagash in a Catholic family and his parents divorced while he was in middle school. He attended Allagash Consolidated School, where he played the sports the small school offered. He later earned an Associate of Arts degree in business from the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Logging career Jackson grew up around the logging industry and rode in his father's logging truck as a child. When he was 12, he witnessed his father and other northern Maine loggers strike over concerns about mechanized harvesting and wages, an experience that shaped his views on labor. At age 19, he began working as a logger despite his parents' wanting him to pursue a different career. Jackson became the fifth generation in his family to work as a logger.
In 1998, while working as a logger, Jackson helped lead a one-week blockade along the Maine–Canada border, with loggers from Maine using their trucks to block Canadian loggers from crossing the border at three border checkpoints. Fourteen other loggers joined him in the blockade."A Maine progressive in Trump country, Troy Jackson seeks the Blaine House," Portland Press Herald, July 10, 2026. Before the blockade, the group had filed 137 complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor over the hiring of temporary Canadian workers, but all the complaints were denied.
Industrial timber owners and corporate forest groups strongly condemned the blockade of an international crossing and argued that the use of direct action set a dangerous precedent for trade and cross-border transit. Forest industry groups said the blockade threatened Maine's forest-products sector because it disrupted supplies to regional mills and risked damaging longstanding trade ties with Canada. Opponents also argued that hiring temporary Canadian workers through the federal seasonal H-2A visa program was legal and necessary because Maine's wood industry did not have enough local workers.
The blockade ended unsuccessfully after a week. Jackson and two other loggers were escorted away by the police. The incident prompted Jackson to enter electoral politics.
Political career
Maine House of Representatives Jackson first ran for office as a Republican, running for the Maine House of Representatives in 2000 for District 151. He narrowly lost to Democratic nominee Marc Michaud, with 2,017 votes to Michaud's 2,172.
In 2002, Jackson was elected as an Independent to House District 151, defeating Michaud, 2,171 votes to 1,176 in a race without a Republican candidate. He was the first non-Democrat to represent the area since 1978. The Bangor Daily News called Jackson's victory the biggest upset of the 2002 elections in Maine.
During his first term, Jackson switched from Independent to Democrat in 2004, citing Democratic support for legislation he had sponsored that would allow independent logging contractors to collectively bargain with forest landowners. The bill was signed into law by Governor John Baldacci later that year. After Maine's post-census legislative redistricting, Jackson ran for reelection in 2004 in the new House District 1 as a Democrat. He defeated Republican Paul Berube by a vote of 3,486 to 1,248.
During his second term, Jackson, a father of two children, sponsored legislation in 2005 that required alcohol distributors to post signs stating the legal consequences of buying alcohol for minors. The measure grew out of efforts by a community group from his district in the St. John Valley to combat underage drinking, including placing similar signs in the area, and became law that year. He was reelected to the State House unopposed in 2006.
In the Maine House, Jackson served on the Labor Committee and the Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. He chaired the Fisheries and Wildlife Committee for two terms.
Maine Senate
Maine Senate (2008–14)
In 2008, Jackson was elected to represent District 35 in the Maine State Senate, defeating Republican Daniel DeVeau, 11,188 votes to 6,593. He was reelected in 2010, defeating DeVeau again, 7,525 votes to 5,620, and holding the seat despite a Republican wave that saw the GOP claim its first government trifecta in Maine since 1963. In 2012, Jackson was elected to a third term with 8,521 votes to Republican nominee Peter Edgecomb's 8,016.
In 2010, Jackson introduced a bill that would have prohibited the Maine Department of Conservation from hiring foreign laborers at state-owned logging sites. It passed both the House of Representatives and the State Senate before being vetoed by Republican Governor Paul LePage. LePage questioned the bill's constitutionality, while Jackson said that LePage was favoring large Canadian logging corporations over American workers.LePages comments on logging stir debate in The County Bangor Daily News, August 26, 2011
Democrats regained control of the Maine Senate in the 2012 elections, and in December of that year, Jackson was elected assistant majority leader of the state senate. 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.
In June 2013, Jackson called Governor LePage an "obstructionist" and "delusional" during discussions about the 2013–14 state budget. LePage responded that Jackson "claims to be for the people but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline". LePage added that Jackson "is a bad person" with "no brains" and a "black heart"."Maine ex-lawmaker throws jar of Vaseline at Paul LePage," Politico, April 3, 2015."5 Times Maine Gov. Paul LePage Apologized for Offending People," Time, August 26, 2016.
During his first period in the Maine Senate, Jackson served on a number of committees, including the Labor Committee, the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, and the State and Government Committee. He chaired the Labor and Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committees.
2014 U.S. Congress campaign On July 1, 2013, after incumbent Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud's decided to explore running for governor, Jackson announced he would run for Maine's 2nd congressional district. On June 10, 2014, Jackson lost the Democratic primary to fellow State Senator Emily Cain, with 21% of the vote to Cain's 79%. Cain lost the general election to Republican Bruce Poliquin."‘Ultimately We Didn’t Win’ — Emily Cain Reflects on 2nd District Loss ," Maine Public, November 9, 2016.
Democratic National Committee On January 25, 2015, Jackson was elected as a member of the Democratic National Committee. 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.
Return to the Maine Senate (2016–24)
In November 2016, Jackson was reelected to the Maine Senate, in what was now the 1st District, over Republican Timothy Guerrette, with 51.5% of the vote to Guerrette's 48.5%, gaining a seat for the Democrats. A week later, he was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the senate minority leader. He was reelected in 2018, 2020, and 2022, becoming the senate president as the Democrats gained the majority in 2018 and retained it in 2020 and 2022.
As senate president, Jackson pursued a populist agenda that included fair wages and accessible health care. He sponsored legislation aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. One bill required brand-name drug manufacturers to make their drugs available to generic manufacturers, and became law in 2018 without Governor LePage's signature. In 2019, Jackson sponsored legislation that established a prescription drug affordability board and allowed the importation of prescription drugs, both of which were signed into law by Democratic Governor Janet Mills.
Jackson later introduced a legislation plan to address child care shortages and expand access to free school meals. The plan included legislation sponsored by Jackson, which established universal free school meals, regardless of family income, beginning in the 2022–23 school year. The legislation made Maine the second state in the country to offer such a program. In 2023, Jackson sponsored legislation to expand Maine's child care system that expanded subsidy eligibility to families earning up to 125 percent of the state's median income and doubled the average monthly stipend for child care workers. The expanded eligibility provision took effect the next year.
Jackson's legislative record during his senate presidency also included other health care measures. In 2022, he sponsored legislation that required state-regulated health plans to cover prescription contraceptives without out-of-pocket costs, which became law that year. In 2024, he introduced legislation to regulate medical credit cards used to pay medical bills and protect patients from high interest charges.
Ahead of the 2022 Maine gubernatorial election, Jackson's supporters, including several labor unions and former Portland mayor Ethan Strimling, formed a political action committee named "Run Troy Run" in an attempt to draft Jackson to challenge incumbent governor Janet Mills in the Democratic primary. Jackson distanced himself from the group's efforts, said he would not run against Mills, and endorsed her reelection campaign. In 2023, he ran for a local seat on the Board of Selectmen in Allagash. He lost the election by six votes.