Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson has announced his campaign for governor of Maine in next year’s election.
The Bangor Daily News reports Jackson first won election to the Maine House as an independent in 2002 after running unsuccessfully as a Republican.
He then joined the Democratic Party and led the Senate from 2018 until leaving office last year.
Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from Allagash.
“Too many Democrats have lost touch with working people or shown they’re not up to the fight,” said Jackson in a statement released Monday. “All while Mainers struggle as prices rise, wages stagnate, and greedy corporations rake in record profits to buy off politicians. I know what it’s like to punch a clock, live paycheck to paycheck, be treated like I didn’t matter while some billionaire got rich off my back – and how to turn that feeling of powerlessness into action.”
“I know I don’t look like traditional candidates, and I probably won’t be the chosen candidate of big money donors or the well-connected, and I’m okay with that because I know who I am and what I’m fighting for. I’m running for governor to build a Maine where working families get ahead, seniors can age with dignity, our environment is protected for future generations, and our kids can afford to stay and build their future here at home.”
Jackson is kicking off his campaign at the Kittery Town Wharf Monday and will also make stops in Auburn and Waterville.
The primary election for Maine governor begins in June of next year, where Jackson so far will be up against fellow Democrats Shenna Bellows and Angus King III. Other possible Democratic contenders include U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, and Hannah Pingree, who stepped down last week from the Governor’s Office of Policy and Innovation and Future
Republican candidates for governor include Robert Wessels, a former selectman from Paris, and Robert Charles, who worked in the George H. W. Bush administration.
Current Maine Governor Janet Mills is term limited and will leave office next year.
