This morning, Bangor Daily News reported that “Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, one of the state’s leading labor Democrats, on Friday confirmed long-running speculation that he is exploring a run for governor.”¹ Troy Jackson got his start in politics after “his advocacy in the 1998 logging blockade along the Canadian border to protest unfair trade policies.”² On his website, Jackson explains:

“I’m a fifth-generation logger from Allagash, who got into politics because I was tired of people with big suits and soft hands in Augusta and Washington making decisions without regard for working families in our community and all across the state. The last election made it clear that the Democratic Party has too few leaders who understand that experience, leaders who have actually lived the challenges that working class people face every day. At a time when greedy corporations and wealthy special interests are running the tables in Washington, D.C., it’s clear we need leaders here in Maine who will stand up, speak out and fight for every day, working class people. That’s something I’ve done my entire life from the woods in northern Maine to the halls of the State House.”³

Troy Jackson is also a member of the IAM.⁴ On October 14, 2023, members at Woodland Pulp went on strike in Baileyville.⁵ Jackson joined them on the picket line. Local S6 also sent representatives to hold the line.⁶ On November 20, police arrested picketers for “blocking a gate.”⁷ I02 steward Eric Severy was not blocking a gate when police dragged him through the mud. “Troy Jackson is the one who bailed me out,” Severy told me. “He was there to support us, he also walked the picket line.”⁸

If Jackson runs for Governor, union workers will have his back. Severy and I did some door knocking with the AFL-CIO last November, and I for one will feel much more enthusiastic campaigning for Troy Jackson than anyone else.

1. Billy Kobin and Michael Shepherd, “Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson explores a run for governor,” Bangor Daily News, March 7, 2025. ↩︎
2. AFL-CIO, “About Troy,” accessed March 7, 2025. ↩︎
3. Troy Jackson, “Troy Jackson,” troyjackson.org, accessed March 7, 2025. ↩︎
4. AFL-CIO, “About Troy,” accessed March 7, 2025. ↩︎
5. “Paper mill strike ends in rural Maine after more than a month,” AP, November 24, 2023. ↩︎
6. Local S6, “Today three members of IAM Local S6 and one member IAM Local 1490 were arrested on the picket line in Baileyville, ME. They were charged with criminal trespassing…” Facebook, November 20, 2023. ↩︎
7. Stephen Singer, “Union says 5 arrested at picket line of striking workers at eastern Maine pulp mill,” Portland Press Herald, November 20, 2023. ↩︎
8. Eric Severy in conversation with author, March 7, 2025. ↩︎