Troy Dale Jackson

Troy Jackson was born on June 26, 1968, in Fort Kent, Maine, and was raised in Allagash; his father was a logger and his mother a teacher. He describes himself as a working-class Mainer and fifth-generation logger from Allagash who spent most of his life working in the woods. He began logging at 19, earned an associate degree from the University of Maine at Fort Kent in 2000 and has worked as a self-employed logger.[1][5] He cites the 1998 blockade, in which he helped lead a one-week blockade of the Maine-Canada border by loggers protesting the hiring of temporary Canadian workers and stood up to powerful landowners he said were undercutting Maine workers, as the root of his politics.[1][5]

Jackson lost a 2000 Maine House race as a Republican, then won District 151 in 2002 as an independent and switched to the Democratic Party in 2004. He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 2002 to 2008, chairing the Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. He was elected to the Maine Senate in 2008 from District 35 and served until 2014, becoming majority leader in 2013, then ran for the U.S. House in Maine's 2nd District and lost the June 10, 2014 Democratic primary to Emily Cain, 79% to 21%.[1][5] He returned to the Maine Senate in 2016, representing District 1, and served until December 3, 2024, holding the posts of Democratic leader and, from 2018, Senate President; he did not run for re-election in 2024. As president he sponsored measures on prescription drug costs, universal free school meals and child care.[1][5] He was elected to the Democratic National Committee in 2015, and he was a Maine superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where he was listed as supporting Bernie Sanders.[1][5]

Jackson ran for governor in 2026 and finished third in the first round of the June 9 Democratic primary, which Hannah Pingree won.[1][5] After Platner, the winner of the June 9 Senate primary, withdrew from the general election on July 10, 2026, Jackson won the party's July 25 nominating convention to replace him.[1][2] His Ballotpedia survey lists his campaign priorities as lower costs for Maine families, including Medicare for All and lower prescription drug and electricity costs, protecting abortion rights, strengthening unions, and abolishing ICE.[1] He won the November 3, 2026 general election with 53.1% of the vote to Susan Collins's 46.8%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[3]