Troy Jackson is running for Maine governor

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

Democrat Troy Jackson wants to become Maine’s next governor.

The logger from Allagash announced his bid for the Democratic Party nomination Monday morning. He’s been among the high-profile Democrats expected to run to succeed Gov. Janet Mills, who is barred from running for reelection in 2026 under Maine’s term limits law.

“Too many Democrats have lost touch with working people or shown they’re not up to the fight. All while Mainers struggle as prices rise, wages stagnate, and greedy corporations rake in record profits to buy off politicians,” Jackson said in a statement.

Jackson first ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2000 as a Republican but didn’t win. He finally won a seat in the Legislature in 2002 as an independent. Jackson joined the Democratic Party in 2004.

From 2018 to 2024, he served as Senate president for majority Democrats. Jackson was term-limited from the Senate last year.

Before rising to political office, Jackson garnered attention for his role in a 1998 logging blockade protesting the use of Canadian labor in Maine.

“I got my start putting in 80-hour weeks in the woods of northern Maine, barely scraping by. So when the greedy landowners threatened to replace us if we didn’t work harder for less pay, I had no choice but to stand up and fight back. Since then, I’ve never stopped fighting for the people who keep our state running — the loggers and farmers, teachers and nurses, fishermen and first responders, workers and small business owners who are getting left behind,” he said in a statement.

Jackson planned to kick off his campaign Monday at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery as part of a statewide tour winding its way up to Madawaska. He planned to meet with union workers, manufacturers, child care providers, affordable housing developers and OB-GYN health care providers.