Maine Democrat who rejects special interests previously ran PAC that courted them
The Washington Post
Liz Goodwin
September 30, 2026
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But as recently as two years ago, Jackson helped lead a PAC that received tens of thousands of dollars from tobacco firms, pharmaceutical companies and affiliated PACs, gambling companies and other industry bogeymen when he led Democrats in the state Senate, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
The financial disclosures from his six years at the helm of his party’s political machine in Maine, from 2018 to 2024, show the tension between Jackson’s political-outsider persona on the campaign trail and the roughly two decades he spent in Augusta, the state’s capital, embedded in the state’s politics.
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Jackson listed himself as a “principal officer” of Maine’s Senate Democratic Campaign Committee several times on his annual financial disclosure forms from 2017 through 2024. A group of top Democrats helped run the PAC, and Jackson has distanced himself from the political group on the campaign trail.
“We didn’t take pharma money, but the state Senate caucus, I mean, I was one of a number of people that made those decisions, what we took and what we didn’t,” Jackson told reporters in an August press gaggle when asked about the issue. “Now, this is my campaign, we’re not taking corporate money.”
Campaign finance reports filed with the state show that the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee raised thousands of dollars from pharmaceutical companies, including from Merck and Johnson & Johnson. The tobacco giant Altria donated $12,000 to the PAC over the years, with global tobacco company Swedish Match also contributing thousands. The gambling industry donated significant sums to the PAC when Jackson helped helm it, as well, including $3,000 from DraftKings and more than $4,000 from FanDuel.
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Money in politics, though, has been central to Jackson’s campaign.
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