Maine's newly minted Democratic Senate nominee, Troy Jackson, says he's running for office because he's "tired" of "high-priced lobbyists and corporate greed" killing "good bills" that would "protect workers." And yet, his lobbyist son charged nearly $200,000 working to influence the state legislature while Jackson served his final year as president of the Maine Senate, records show.
Jackson was first elected to the chamber in 2008 and became its president a decade later, in 2018. He held the role until December 2024, when he left the Legislature due to term limits. Jackson's former chief of staff, B.J. McCollister, left his office three years prior, in 2021, to launch the Resurgam Group, a "full service lobbying" firm that pledges to "leverage our strong existing relationships" in the State Legislature to "help deliver results." In 2022, McCollister brought on Jackson's son, 35-year-old Chace Jackson, as a partner, describing him in a press release as a "long-time advocate and organizer." The release did not mention his father.
Chace Jackson did not struggle to land clients, according to the Maine Ethics Commission's lobbyist disclosure database, which only goes back to 2024. During that year, his firm received $182,500 in lobbying compensation from nine of Jackson’s clients, including corporate giants like Diageo, the multinational alcoholic beverage behemoth headquartered in London and known for brands like Johnnie Walker and Casamigos, the "ultra-premium tequila" founded by Hollywood actor George Clooney.
Last year, with his father out of the Legislature, Chace Jackson represented just five clients, while zero are listed for 2026, records show. It's unclear whether he is still lobbying or working in politics. Chace Jackson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Resurgam Group merged with another firm, Frame Strategies, in January. McCollister, Troy Jackson's former chief of staff, is the firm's new president, and Jackson's U.S. Senate campaign appears to be a client: A July 28 PolitiFact article detailing an allegation that Troy Jackson threw a water bottle at a female colleague in the Maine Senate quotes McCollister as a "Jackson campaign adviser." Frame Strategies's website features a number of Resurgam Group staffers but makes no mention of Chace Jackson, who appears to have recently deleted his LinkedIn account.
Chace Jackson's lucrative lobbying work stands in stark contrast to his father's campaign rhetoric as Troy Jackson runs to unseat Republican senator Susan Collins. In an April candidate questionnaire, Troy Jackson, a self-described "fifth-generation logger" and "working-class voice," said he was running for office "because the status quo isn't working," singling out "high-priced lobbyists" as the culprit.
"I'm tired of good bills that would help lower prescription drug costs, protect workers, stop the spraying of harmful chemicals and so much more get vetoed," he said. "I'm tired of folks being told to hold on, wait a little longer or that now is not the right time. All thanks to the work of special interests, high-priced lobbyists and corporate greed."
Troy Jackson’s campaign said "Troy Jackson has fought for working Mainers" and "is guided by one goal: fixing our broken system so Maine’s working families stop getting squeezed while the rich get richer." It also said the Washington Free Beacon "must include" on background the fact that Chace Jackson’s lobbying clients "paid $182,500 to the firm, not to Chace directly."
Chace Jackson's work for Diageo, the alcoholic beverage giant, centered on LD 1695, which would have allowed distillers to ship spirits directly to consumers in Maine. Diageo appeared to support the bill. The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America did not, arguing that it would benefit international conglomerates like Diageo over local producers.
"LD 1695 would not benefit Maine's in-state distillers," the trade association argued in a 2023 letter submitted to the State Legislature. "Instead, the large spirit companies that have the infrastructure and can afford to ship across the country will take sales away from Maine's distillers and revenue away from Maine's agency stores. A recent study estimated that if spirits DTC was enacted, Maine's spirits industry would lose 64 jobs resulting in $2,983,253 in lost wages."
The legislative committee handling the bill, the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, recommended that the bill not pass. But the Maine Senate, led by Jackson, voted against that recommendation, roll call records show, and the bill passed the chamber under suspension of the rules on April 9 before dying in the House.
Chace Jackson's other 2024 clients included the automotive parts provider LKQ Corporation, the Maine Service Employees Association, and the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, the state's leading gun control group, which retained the younger Jackson and McCollister to lobby in favor of an "assault-style weapons ban and a 'red flag' law," the Bangor Daily News reported at the time. Troy Jackson was known as a Second Amendment supporter and had "long been endorsed by the National Rifle Association," including as recently as 2022, according to the Daily News. But he flipped his position as his son lobbied for the Gun Safety Coalition, voting in favor of one bill that imposed a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases and another that amended Maine's "yellow flag" gun confiscation law "to allow police to take a potentially dangerous individual into protective custody even if they have not yet committed a crime," Maine Public reported. Chace Jackson lobbied in favor of both bills on the coalition's behalf.
Troy Jackson replaced the disgraced Maine Democrat Graham Platner as the party's nominee against Collins on July 25, winning a party convention vote by a margin of 566 to 5 following Platner's exit from the race in the wake of a credible rape allegation. Jackson originally ran for governor, and Platner backed his campaign, with the pair holding joint campaign events. As Platner cruised to a 53-point primary win over Gov. Janet Mills, Jackson finished third behind Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah and former speaker of the Maine House Hannah Pingree in his own primary.
