PHILADELPHIA — Peter Jackson, veteran State House correspondent for The Associated Press in Augusta, has been named the AP correspondent in Harrisburg, Pa.

Philadelphia Chief of Bureau George Zucker appointed Jackson on Monday to succeed Rich Kirkpatrick, who resigned after two decades of reporting from the Pennsylvania capital to become press secretary of the state Department of Transportation.

Jackson, 45, has headed the AP’s capital bureau in Maine for 16 years. He joined the AP in Augusta in 1978 and was named correspondent there in 1980.

A seasoned political reporter, Jackson has covered four Maine governors and nine sessions of the state Legislature. His major stories included the plane crash that killed young peace ambassador Samantha Smith and the nation’s first attempt to close a nuclear power plant by referendum.

Jackson graduated from Pennsylvania State University after service in the U.S. Air Force.