Troy Jackson ersätter Platner i senatsvalet i Maine

Troy Dale Jackson (born June 26, 1968) is an American politician and logger who served in the Maine Senate from 2016 to 2024 and 2008 to 2014, serving as its president and majority leader from 2018 to 2024. He represented parts of northern Aroostook County, including the towns of Fort Kent, Madawaska, and Caribou. 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 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 then elected to the State Senate in 2008. He became Minority Leader in 2016, and after Democrats gained the majority in the 2018 election, Jackson was chosen to be Majority Leader and Senate President. Jackson was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2014 Democratic primary for Maine's 2nd congressional district, losing by 58 percentage points to Emily Cain. He was later an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Maine in 2026, finishing third and eliminated on the third count in the Democratic primary with 29% of the vote. When Democratic nominee for the 2026 U.S. Senate election in Maine Graham Platner withdrew his candidacy in July 2026, Jackson announced his own candidacy for the Democratic nominating convention. He was formally nominated on July 25, 2026, and will face incumbent Republican Susan Collins in the general election.