Troy Dale Jackson (born June 26, 1968) is an American logger and politician from Allagash,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

who served as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the st ...

from 2018 to 2024. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, Jackson represented Senate District 1, representing northern

Aroostook County Aroostook County ( ; ) is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of Maine. It is located along the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,105. The county seat is Houlton, with offices in Caribou and Fo ...

, including the towns of Fort Kent, Madawaska and

Caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

. He is currently running for

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

. Jackson started in politics during the 1998 logging blockade along the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

border, protesting the illegal hiring of Canadian workers over Maine loggers, inadequate wages and poor working conditions. Eventually, Jackson was elected to the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via ...

, where he served three terms before being elected to the State Senate in 2008. After Democrats gained the majority in the 2018 election, Jackson was chosen to be Senate President. In addition to his service as Senate President, he also served as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority leader. He first ran for office as a Republican, was first elected as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, and joined the Democratic Party in 2004.

Early life

Jackson was born to a 16-year-old mother in

Fort Kent, Maine Fort Kent ( French: ''Fort-Kent'') is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States, situated at the confluence of the Fish River and the Saint John River, on the border with New Brunswick, Canada. The population was 4,067 in the 2020 cens ...

, and was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Career

Jackson first ran for the

in 2000 for Maine House District 151, as a Republican, and narrowly lost to Marc Michaud, a

, 2,017–2,172. He was elected to House District 151 in 2002 as an Independent, defeating the incumbent Michaud 2,171–1,176 in a race with no Republican candidate. He was the first non-Democrat to represent the area since 1978, but joined the Democratic Party in early 2004. 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. He was re-elected to the State House unopposed in 2006. In 2008, Jackson ran for and won Maine State Senate District 35, defeating Republican Daniel DeVeau 11,188–6,593. He would be re-elected in 2010 by defeating DeVeau 7,525–5,620 in a rematch, holding the seat amidst a Republican

wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...

that saw the GOP claim its first

government trifecta A government trifecta is a political situation in which the same political party controls the Executive (government), executive branch and both chambers of the legislative branch in countries that have a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature and a ...

in Maine since 1963. He would be re-elected again in 2012 by a narrow 8,521–8,016 margin over Republican

Peter Edgecomb Peter Edgecomb is an American politician from Maine. Edgecomb represented District 1 in the Maine Senate. He previously represented District 4 in the Maine House of Representatives, which was part of Aroostook County. He resides in the city of C ...

. 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 resignation of fellow Democrat Seth Goodall. On July 1, 2013, following incumbent Democratic Congressman

Mike Michaud Michael Herman Michaud ( ; born January 18, 1955) is an American businessman and politician from Maine. Michaud served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the United States ...

's decision to explore

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

for

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, Jackson announced he would

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

for

Maine's 2nd congressional district Maine's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Maine. Covering , it comprises nearly 92% of the state's total land area. The district comprises most of the land area north of the Portland and Augusta metr ...

, which had been Michaud's seat since 2003. On June 10, 2014, Jackson lost the primary to fellow State Senator

Emily Cain Emily Ann Cain (born March 29, 1980) is an American politician from Maine and Executive Director of EMILY's List. A member of the Maine Democratic Party, Democratic Party, Cain served in the Maine Senate from 2012 to 2014, representing the 30th di ...

, receiving 21% of the vote to Cain's 79%. Cain would go on to lose the general election to Republican

Bruce Poliquin Bruce Lee Poliquin (; born November 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Maine's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. Poliquin ...

. On January 25, 2015, Jackson was elected as a member of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

. In November 2016, Jackson was re-elected to the Senate, in what was now the 1st District, over Republican Timothy Guerrette and a week later he was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the Senate Minority Leader. He would be re-elected as Senator of the 1st District in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 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 Matthea Elisabeth Larsen Daughtry (born March 9, 1987) is an American politician from Maine. She is the President of the Maine Senate. She is a Democrat representing Senate District 23, which serves Brunswick, Chebeague Island, Freeport, Harpsw ...

. On March 7, 2025, Jackson announced he was formally exploring a run for

in the 2026 election. He officially announced his candidacy on May 19.

Politics

He is an advocate for health care and

workers rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, th ...

, 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 Paul Richard LePage (; born October 9, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 74th governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the mayor of Waterville, Maine, from 20 ...

. 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 The ''Bangor Daily News'' is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The ''Bangor Daily News'' was founded on June 18, 1889; it merged with the ''Bangor Whig an ...

'', August 26, 2011 Jackson previously held

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

positions on

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

and

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...

, but over time became a staunch supporter of both. 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 Vaseline ()Also pronounced with the main stress on the last syllable . is an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products owned by British multinational company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, ...

", as well as saying Jackson had a "black heart". During the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

, Jackson was a prominent supporter of

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

' campaign and cast his superdelegate vote for him at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He was chosen to introduce Sanders at a campaign rally before 8,000 supporters in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

on July 6, 2015. During the 2020 presidential election, Jackson again supported Sanders, and again addressed a Portland rally for Sanders on September 1, 2019. After the primaries, Jackson threw his support behind the Democratic ticket of Vice President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

and Senator

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

. Sanders would return the favor during Jackson's 2026 gubernatorial campaign, with Sanders endorsing Jackson for governor on May 21, 2025.

Personal life

Jackson attended Allagash Consolidated Community High School before obtaining an A.A. in business from the

University of Maine at Fort Kent The University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMaine Fort Kent or UMFK; ) is a public college in Fort Kent, Maine, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University of Maine System. It is an academic center for Acadian and French American ...

. He lives in

Allagash, Maine Allagash is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. It is on the Allagash River in the North Maine Woods region. The population was 237 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total ...

.Biography
Maine Senate

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Troy Dale 1968 births 21st-century members of the Maine Legislature American loggers Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Living people Maine Democrats Maine Republicans Maine independents Minority leaders of the Maine Senate Politicians from Aroostook County, Maine Presidents of the Maine Senate University of Maine at Fort Kent alumni