Troy Jackson (politician)

Troy Jackson
Member of the Maine Senate
from the 1 district
In office
2008–2014
Preceded by John L. Martin
Succeeded by Peter Edgecomb
Member of the Maine House of Representatives
from the 35 district
In office
2002–2008
Preceded by John L. Martin
Succeeded by John L. Martin
Personal details
Born (1968-06-26) June 26, 1968
Fort Kent, Maine
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Lana Pelletier
Residence Allagash, Maine
Alma mater University of Maine at Fort Kent
Profession Logger
Religion Roman Catholic

Troy Dale Jackson (born June 26, 1968) is an American politician and logger from Maine. Jackson is a former Democratic State Senator from Maine's 35th District, representing much of the northern Maine, including the towns of Fort Kent, Madawaska and Van Buren. He was first elected to the Maine State Senate in 2008. In June 2014, Jackson lost the Democratic primary for Maine's second Congressional District in 2014 to fellow State Senator Emily Cain.

Career

Jackson first ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2000 for Maine House District 151, as a Republican, and lost to Marc E. Michaud, Democrat.[1] He was elected to House 151 in 2002 as an Independent, defeating incumbent Marc E. Michaud, Democrat.[2] in 2004, after Maine's post census legislative redistricting, Jackson won a resounding reelection for House District 1, against Paul Berube, 3,486 to 1,248[3] In 2008 Jackson ran and won Maine State Senate District 35. In December 2012, Jackson was elected Assistant Majority Leader of the State Senate after the Democrats took back control of the body. On July 10, 2013, Jackson was elected Majority Leader of the Maine Senate after the resignation of fellow Democrat Seth Goodall.[4]

On July 1, 2013, following incumbent Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud's decision to explore running for Governor of Maine, Jackson announced he would run for Maine's 2nd congressional district, which had been Michaud's seat since 2003.[5] On June 10, 2014, Jackson lost the primary to fellow State Senator Emily Cain.[6]

On Jan. 25, 2015, Jackson was elected as a member of the Democratic National Committee.[7] It was in that capacity that he was chosen to introduce Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally before 8,000 supporters in Portland Maine on July 6, 2015.[8]

Jackson entered the race for his former State Senate seat (renumbered Senate District 1) on January 4, 2016. [9]

Jackson has stated that he intends to cast his superdelegate vote for Bernie Sanders at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Politics

He is an advocate for workers rights, especially for fellow loggers. In 2010, Jackson wrote a bill which would have "prohibited the Maine Department of Conservation from employing foreign laborers at state-owned logging sites". It passed both the House of Representatives and the State Senate before being vetoed by Governor Paul LePage. LePage questioned the bill's constitutionality while Jackson said that LePage was favoring large Canadian logging corporations over American workers.[10]

In June 2013, Jackson called LePage "obstructionist" and "delusional" regarding discussions about the 2013-2014 state budget. LePage responded with personal attacks on Jackson, saying that Jackson "claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline", as well as saying Jackson had a "black heart".[11]

Personal

Jackson attended Allagash Consolidated Community High School before obtaining a A.A. in business from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He lives in Allagash, Maine.[12]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.