from the effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, it was to a protracted standing ovation. As of 2019, Jackson has suffered no recurrence. State Senate Following his family's sale of Goodlark Medical Center to HCA, the funds for the proceeds from this sale were placed in a foundation, the Jackson Foundation, which was established for the primary purpose of operating an educational and cultural center on State Route 46 south of Dickson. Jackson was named executive director of the foundation and the center and was reportedly not intending to seek any further terms in the House. However, when 25th District State Senator Kenneth N. "Pete" Springer was found dead in his apartment in early 2000, Jackson's plans suddenly changed. Springer's widow was elected by the Hickman County Commission as an interim replacement; it was correctly assumed that she had little interest in politics and would serve merely as a caretaker with no desire to stand for election in her own right. Jackson soon entered the hotly contested primary for the remaining two years of Springer's term and defeated, among others, Springer's former staff director and campaign manager in August 2000. The Tennessee Republican Party made a concerted effort to regain the control of the state senate that fall that it had lost when the party switchers mentioned above retired from office, so Jackson was to face a hard-fought campaign for the November election against Decaturville, Tennessee businesswoman Bonnie Butler, whom he defeated by a margin of 55% to 45%. Subsequent elections Jackson was elected to a full term in November 2002 by a larger margin over his Republican opponent, retired Humphreys County educator Jim Brasfield, than he had won over Butler two years previously. Jackson apparently remained quite popular; he won the Democratic nomination for a third (second full) term in the Tennessee Senate on August 3, 2006 with over 80% of the vote. However, he was defeated in the general election by Republican Jim Somerville on November 2, 2010, ending his Senate service. Legislative actions Jackson sponsored a controversial bill "allowing Tennessee's estimated 270,000 handgun-carry permit holders to go armed in restaurants, bars, museums and other establishments licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption (providing that they refrained from consuming themselves while armed)." The Senate voted to override an earlier veto by Tennessee's Governor Phil Bredesen on May 28, 2010. The law took effect on July 1 of that