Maine's Labor Movement Helps to Propel First Rank-and-File Union Member to the U.S. Senate
Maine made history last Tuesday night by electing the first rank-and-file union member to come out of the ranks of the labor movement to the U.S. Senate! With the election of Brother Troy Jackson, this is the first time Maine ousted a sitting senator since 1978, when Rep. Bill Cohen defeated Democratic Sen. Bill Hathaway, who had previously unseated Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. In his victory speech, Jackson thanked the labor movement
“All of you put your lives on hold, you worked long days and longer nights, and you took care of each other and kept on going when it was really tough. When you were running on next to nothing, I saw that, and I'm not going to forget it,” he said. “And to my brothers and sisters in the labor movement, thank you for everything that you've done for us. You understood what it would mean to send one of your own to the United States Senate.” He added, “And on Labor Day, brothers and sisters, I stood before you and I made a pledge to work in Mainers. And I'm going to keep that promise because I am a union member tonight. I'll be a union member when I walk into that Senate chamber.”
At that point the crowd of supporters at the Holiday Inn in Portland broke out into a chorus of “Solidarity Forever.” Jackson recalled his days working 80-weeks in the woods to provide for his family and how that drove him into politics.
“I’d pack my lunch box and my clothes as the sun set and get ready to leave before the sun rose on Monday morning,” Jackson said. “And my son, four years old at the time, would ask me not to go. And he had a plan. He was going to hold my hand and stay awake all night. And that way, when the morning came, he'd be able to know that I would still be there. And I'd watch him fighting sleep, his little hand wrapped around my thumb, trying with everything he had to keep his dad home. And I was leaving because I loved him, I loved Lana, I loved my younger son Camden. And all he wanted was for me to be able to stay. There are working parents all over this country who know exactly what that feels like. That's a big part of what brought me into this fight.”
Troy Jackson’s candidacy was powered by a grassroots, labor-led movement. Troy had less than two weeks to mount his US Senate nominating campaign when the seat opened up. As soon as Troy announced his candidacy, the Maine AFL-CIO and the broader labor movement sprang into action mobilizing over 300 volunteers and texting, emailing and calling volunteers all over the state to sign up to become county delegate candidates, attend county caucuses and vote in support of a Jackson slate. About one quarter of the delegates at the nomination convention were union members, propelling Troy to an overwhelming 566 to 5 victory.
“This is a tremendous victory for the labor movement and all Maine workers,” said Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney in a statement. For his entire career Troy Jackson has fought for working-class Mainers, from organizing his fellow loggers to passing state laws that improve the lives of working people. Troy didn’t come into politics because he wanted a political career. He came into politics to help his co-workers when the political system wasn’t listening.”
Phinney added, “This victory serves as an inspiration for other working-class candidates. Working-class people like Troy account for just 1 percent of lawmakers in the U.S. while 79 percent of the U.S. Senate is made up of millionaires. This election proves that working-class candidates can win a seat in the world’s most elite institution by appealing to voters’ economic interests and pushing a platform that prioritizes Medicare for All, workers’ rights, fair wages, affordable housing, retirement security and more.”
For the past two months, the Maine AFL-CIO has mobilized more than 530 union members and community volunteers to knock on 65,000 doors and have had more than 20,000 conversations with voters about cost-of-living issues, Troy Jackson and other labor endorsed candidates, and the stakes in this election. As the monied interests flooded Maine with negative attack ads, our program was having one on one conversations that cut through the noise and spoke to voters about the issues they care about.
In 2026, across the Gubernatorial primary and the US Senate race, the Maine AFL-CIO and aligned unions knocked on over 115,000 doors for Troy Jackson - an unprecedented door to door field operation. Additionally, the labor movement phone banked members, sent mail to union members, had thousands of worksite conversations and distributed Troy Jackson baseball cards in workplaces throughout the state.
This isn’t the first time Maine’s Labor movement made political history. In 1878, we elected the first union leader to Congress — Granite Cutters’ Union leader Thompson Murch of Rockland.