‘Bittersweet' Moment For Jackson As He Leaves Legislature To Lead Maryland State Police

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

November 12, 2025

Sen. Michael Jackson became Col. Michael Jackson at midnight Tuesday, taking over as superintendent of the Maryland State Police and kicking off a scramble to fill his District 27 Senate seat, which represents parts of three Southern Maryland counties.

The transition marks the end of more than 10 years in the legislature for Jackson, almost five of which have been spent in the Senate. It also marks a return to law enforcement for Jackson, who served as president of the local Fraternal Order of Police from 1997-2002 and as Prince George’s County sheriff from 2002-2010.

“This is bittersweet,” Jackson said Tuesday as he packed up his Senate office — his photo had already been removed from the General Assembly website by Tuesday afternoon.

“There’s much more good work to be done .. always in the public safety arena, particularly with policing,” he said. “I’m proud of the work done as a legislator. I’m going to work hard for the state police. It’s the government police agency that keeps the entire state safe.”

Jackson, 61, takes over for Col. Roland Butler, who retired Nov. 1. Butler became the department’s first Black superintendent when he was sworn in in 2023 — over the objections of Jackson and three other Prince George’s County senators.

Opponents argued during a difficult confirmation battle that Butler had not done enough to promote diversity and address complaints of racism and discriminatory treatment of Black officers during his lengthy career with the agency, including time as chief of the Field Operations Bureau.

The U.S. Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation in 2022 into complaints of discrimination against Black and female applicants in the police agency’s written and physical hiring tests. Last year, the State Police agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle claims by 48 failed police applicants. Even though Justice determined any discrimination was unintentional, the State Police also agreed to revamp hiring tests and offer jobs to at least 25 of the 48 failed applicants.

Since the Maryland case was settled, however, President Donald Trump’s (R) administration has signaled that it intends to walk away from similar suits around the country.

Jackson said that as superintendent, he plans a “step-by-step” assessment of the agency that includes any lawsuits and other concerns. But he wants troopers to know that he is “not in the head-hunting business. I’m in the service business.”

“We have to be very careful not to make folks who are within the agency working hard every day …being blamed for whatever is going on,” Jackson said Tuesday. “We’re going to address any concerns that are out there. We’re going to make a full assessment.”

To help build relationships and assess resources that may be needed, Jackson would like his former legislative colleagues to visit the 23 state police barracks. He also said he would like to improve on the department’s community engagement, which he said he did during his tenure as Prince George’s County sheriff.

“You’re not going to just see [state troopers] writing tickets on the side of the road, or dealing with accidents, or dealing with Homeland Security matters or intelligence matters,” he said. “You’re going to see us in the community again.”

Musical chairs

Jackson will serve as acting secretary until he can be confirmed by the Senate. But his Senate seat comes open Wednesday.

In the Senate, Jackson served on the Budget and Taxation Committee, where he chaired the Pensions Subcommittee and the Public Safety, Transportation and Environment Subcommittee. Selection of his replacement will include input from each of the three county Democratic Central Committees in the district, Prince George’s, Calvert and Charles counties.

District 27 Dels. Kevin Harris and Jeffrie Long Jr. have so far expressed interest replacing Jackson. Harris represents District 27A, which includes parts of Prince George’s and Charles counties, and Long represents District 27B, which covers parts of Prince George’s and Calvert counties.

It will be up to the three Democratic Central Committees to nominate a replacement for Jackson and send that name to the governor. They have 30 days after the seat comes open Wednesday to conduct interviews and nominate a replacement.

The Charles County committee has already scheduled a special Nov. 22 public hearing to discuss Jackson’s seat, while Calvert County’s next monthly meeting is set for Nov. 20 online, but it was not clear if the open Senate seat would be on the agenda. Prince George’s central committee usually meets on the third Tuesday of every month, but no meeting date has been posted online as of Tuesday.

According to an Oct. 21 letter from the Maryland Attorney General’s office, each central committee has one vote on the Senate nominee. “If two [central committees] select candidate A and one selects candidate B, the name of candidate A is sent to the Governor,” the letter said, but if each settle on a different candidate, all three names go to the governor, who makes the choice.

Jackson declined to say Tuesday who he supports as his successor, but said he will announce it soon.

“I’m not just going to let that go because they’re representing me, my family and my grandkids,” he said. “I’m hoping that these guys can come to some sort of consensus and figure out who’s going to be the one.”

If Long and Harris remain the only two candidates, Jackson said he’d let the central committees know his choice.

“I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m leaning toward this one versus the other. I love both of them. They’re both great for the district. I just think right now, it’s better to have this particular one,” he said.