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Andrea Tirrell is a PhD student from Orono at the University of Maine’s School of Biology and Ecology and a graduate worker in the UMaine Graduate Workers Union (UMGWU-UAW Local 7650).
If you are a working-class person who wants somebody that will actually fight for your interests over the interests of the rich, I believe Troy Jackson is your candidate for governor. If you are a progressive who wants transformative politics for Maine, Troy Jackson is your candidate for governor. If you are somebody fed up with status quo politics, who sees the real political divide not as left versus right but real people versus corporate interests, Troy Jackson is your candidate for governor.
In our fight to unionize 1,000 graduate student workers across the Universities of Maine, Troy has shown up for us countless times. This past November, we called on Troy to join us to deliver a message to UMaine leadership as contract negotiations dragged on past 700 days. The morning of our action, Troy woke up at 3:00 a.m. at home in Allagash so he could make it to Houlton by sunrise to join the Maine State Nurses Association on the picket line for safe staff-to-patient ratios. By 10 a.m., he was marching in Orono with dozens of graduate workers to demand a fair end to negotiations. By afternoon, he was onto Portland and the next fight for workers’ rights.
Troy didn’t show up because he’s running for governor. In fact, Troy has attended most of our rallies since the inception of our union in 2023, well before he was a candidate for governor. I believe Troy shows up because community has been at the core of his politics for decades. He is the kind of person who will quietly roll up his sleeves to do the dishes after a big event like Food AND Medicine and the Eastern Maine Labor Council’s legislative breakfast.
He is also the kind of person ready to take a stand when workers get harmed by people in power, like he did in the 1998 logging blockade. He doesn’t need a pat on the back, he just sees that something needs to be done and gets to work.
Other candidates in this race may talk about similar values, but none have shown up in our communities the way Troy has. No other candidate for Maine governor has walked as many picket lines as Troy or, in my estimation, passed as many bills that directly improve the lives of Mainers as Troy has while state Senate President.
As we celebrate finally ratifying our first contract, a contract that will improve graduate workers’ lives in so many ways, we imagine how a Troy Jackson governorship would further transform our lives and the lives of other Mainers. From income-capped childcare services to lowering property taxes, Troy’s platform affirms and addresses the realities and struggles of working people across Maine.
Graduate workers come from all walks of life and from all over the world. We are parents, grandparents, single, married, able-bodied, disabled, and every other imaginable demographic. Troy’s legislative history on workers’ rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare, environmental protection, education, and tribal sovereignty reflect the change that we believe is necessary to make Maine work for all who call it home. As unionists, our politics of solidarity means that we do not abandon our coworkers or neighbors, no matter who they voted for or where they came from. Rural, urban, coastal, or mountains, working people are all struggling with similar issues.
It’s time for a governor who will roll up their sleeves to fight for a Maine where no one has to stress about stretching a paycheck. As Troy says, he’s not from the left or the right, he’s from the bottom. There’s a kind of heart and fight that can only come from the bottom — a heart that’s forged by hard work in the Maine woods and standing with others on the picket line across the state. Troy has it, and we need it in the Blaine House.