Troy Jackson, a logger from Maine’s far north, beat Sen. Susan Collins to flip her seat — the first Democrat to win a Senate election in Maine since 1988. The AP called the race at 1:02 a.m. ET.
Troy Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from Allagash, near the Canadian border. In the late 1990s he led a blockade of loggers at the border, protesting logging companies that hired Canadian contract workers at lower wages. That fight took him into politics.
Jackson, 58, spent nearly 20 years in the Maine Legislature and was president of the Maine Senate for his last six years, through 2024. He is a labor Democrat backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
His path to this race was wild. He ran for governor this year and finished third in the June primary. Then the Democrats’ Senate nominee, Graham Platner, quit the race over allegations he denies, and the party turned to Jackson in July. He had a little over 100 days to run a Senate campaign.
He used them to beat Susan Collins, who had held the seat since 1997. Watch whether Jackson’s union-first politics shake up a Senate club that has few working loggers in it.
Fast facts
- Age: 58
- Party: Democratic
- Office: U.S. Senator
- State: Maine
- Previous job: President of the Maine Senate; logger
- Called by AP: 1:02 a.m. ET, Nov. 4, 2026
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
