Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, a Democrat from Allagash, announced Friday he is exploring a run for governor in 2026.

Former Senate President Troy Jackson. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“Since wrapping up six years as President of the Maine Senate, I’ve been humbled by the number of Mainers who’ve reached out and asked that I consider running for higher office,” Jackson said in a written statement. He concluded his run as Senate president last year.

The 2024 election made it clear that Democrats in Washington, D.C., are not doing enough to understand the frustrations of working people, he said.

“I understand the belief that no one is listening or even cares, because I have felt that frustration and heard it from friends and neighbors in communities like the one I grew up in,” Jackson said.

“In 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 everyday, working class people.”

Jackson said he is forming an exploratory committee as he considers a run for governor. Maine’s current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, won’t be able to seek reelection next year because of term limits.

A logger by profession, Jackson, 56, spent 20 years as a state representative and senator and served three consecutive terms as Senate president up until 2024, when he was termed out of seeking reelection in the Senate.

His experience representing more rural parts of the state could benefit Democrats, who have lost an electoral vote to Donald Trump in Maine’s more rural 2nd District in each of the last three presidential elections.

During his time in office, Jackson championed issues such as workers’ rights and child care. In 2021, he sponsored the bill that was incorporated into the state budget to give all Maine students free lunches, and he was invited to speak on a panel at the White House in 2023 after pushing for the inclusion of investments in child care in the budget.

Jackson also clashed with former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, during earlier terms in office – a relationship that made headlines in 2013 when LePage said during discussions about the state budget that Jackson, then the assistant Senate majority leader, “claims to be for the people, but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”

He ran to represent Maine’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, but lost the Democratic primary to Emily Cain.

Jackson is among several well-known political figures whose names have been floated as potential candidates to replace Mills.

Other Democratic contenders could include U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and Hannah Pingree, the director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future and a former Maine House speaker.

Mario Moretto, a spokesperson for Golden, said Friday that the congressman is focusing all his attention at the moment on his congressional work. “As far as 2026 goes, there’s plenty of time left to decide, and all options are on the table,” Moretto said.

Speculation about possible Republican candidates has included former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, Rep. Laurel Libby and Jonathan Bush, a cousin of George W. Bush who bought a Cape Elizabeth mansion in 2021.

State Sen. Rick Bennett and former Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason, now a lobbyist, have also been mentioned.

One name being discussed as a possible independent candidate is Travis Mills, a retired U.S. Army staff sergeant, author and motivational speaker.

Candidates for governor will need to collect between 4,000 and 5,000 signatures from Maine voters to qualify for the ballot, and can begin circulating petitions on Jan. 1.

Signatures are due to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State by March 16, 2026, and primary elections are scheduled for June 9, 2026.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:53 a.m. on Saturday, March 8, to correct information about state Sen. Rick Bennett. He has not previously run for governor.