Troy Jackson, a logger from northern Maine who morphed from Republican to progressive Democrat across a long political career, has emerged as the clear front-runner to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Jackson, 58, of Allagash.
1. He ran for governor this year. Mr. Jackson, a longtime state lawmaker who once was president of the Maine Senate, sought a return to state government this year, running for governor on a progressive platform that called for expanded health care and child care options for Mainers. Late in the campaign, he received an endorsement from Mr. Platner, then the front-runner in the Democratic primary race for Senate. Mr. Jackson ultimately finished third in the ranked-choice primary for governor.
2. He is supported by progressive groups and politicians. Even before Mr. Jackson formally started his Senate bid, he was backed by progressives, including Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who had supported Mr. Platner. Mr. Khanna endorsed Mr. Jackson hours before Mr. Platner suspended his campaign. Our Revolution, the liberal group founded by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, backed Mr. Jackson’s bid soon after he set up an exploratory committee. On Sunday, Our Revolution issued a statement saying that Mainers had “voted for a movement to continue” by supporting many pro-Jackson delegates chosen for the nominating convention, which is set for this Saturday.
3. He is seen as close to Mr. Platner on policy. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Platner campaigned together repeatedly before Mr. Platner’s campaign was rocked this month by a rape allegation. (Mr. Platner has denied the allegation but decided to drop out of the Senate race as former allies, including Mr. Jackson, called on him to withdraw.) Many Maine Democrats have been drawn to Mr. Jackson as someone who might carry forward Mr. Platner’s progressive, populist message. Mr. Jackson’s platform calls for universal health care and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also accuses Israel of carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip.
4. His positions have changed over time. As a state lawmaker for much of the past two decades, Mr. Jackson changed positions on prominent social issues. He became a Democrat in 2004 after serving in the State House for two years an independent. (Mr. Jackson ran unsuccessfully for office in 2000 as a Republican but had become an independent by 2002.) Now he is a strong supporter of abortion rights and gay rights. But his voting record once received perfect scores from the anti-abortion group Maine Right to Life, according to the nonpartisan Project Vote Smart. And in 2009, he voted against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine. By 2023, he had helped pass a bill that allowed women to get abortions late into their pregnancies. And in 2024, his voting record earned a 100 percent rating from Equality Maine, a gay rights advocacy group. “It’s become very clear to me that abortion is health care,” he said in a recent interview. He added that he regretted his previous position on gay marriage. “Now people in L.G.B.T.Q. circles know that I am one of their strongest advocates.”
5. He’s a fifth-generation logger from Maine’s northern reaches. Mr. Jackson was born in Fort Kent, Maine, which sit on the border of Canada. He has long lived in nearby Allagash, a wooded town of 237 people. The town is so far north that Allagash Brewing Company, in Portland, Maine, is closer to Boston than it is to Allagash, Maine. His campaign says that as a logger, he has put in 80-hour weeks in the forest. And his ads show him using a chain saw to chop tall trees. In 1999 he led a group that blockaded roads to protest low wages for loggers. “The only promise I have made,” he told The Bangor Daily News when he ran for office as a Republican in 2000, “is that I will work hard if I am elected.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed research, and Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting.
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