He was first elected to the States of Jersey as Deputy of Saint Helier No. 2 in 1978. He was elected as Senator in 1994 and re-elected in 1990. In the 1996 Senatorial election he was ousted in 7th place with 9,578 votes. He then successfully stood for election is his former Deputorial seat in St Helier No. 2 in 1996, topping the poll with 669 votes, and topped the poll again in 1999 and was re-elected in 2002. He stood again as Senator in 2005 and was returned to the Senatorial benches in 4th place with 12,159 votes. Le Main elected not to stand as Senator in the 2011 Election but again contested the St Helier No. 2 District seeking election as a Deputy. He polled 593 votes, 101 behind Geoff Southern, and failed to gain election.
Ministerial responsibility
Senator Le Main was the Minister for Housing of Jersey from 2005. The Housing department is responsible for general housing policies, liaising with the housing trusts and administering private and public rent subsidies. He resigned in 2010 over allegations of his relationship with a property developer, Frank Venton. He denied the allegations, and was subsequently cleared, in 2012, by the States of Jersey police due to lack of evidence. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Overseas Aid Committee.
Political issues
Leylandii hedges
Senator Le Main first raised the issue of deliberately planting high hedges in 1999. As of July 2007, this had still to be resolved but a proposition was due for debate in the States.
In 2003 Senator Le Main called for a review of Social Housing The issue was still being debated in July 2007 at the final sitting of the States before summer recess.
Since his ousting by Southern at the 2011 Jersey general election, le Main has repeated allegations made in 2005 relating to former Jersey Democratic Alliance leader Geoff Southern. These include various allegations of inappropriate behavior when Southern was teaching at Hautlieu School, as well as various other allegations of drunken behavior at various events. le Main has also referred to Southern as a "creepy spiv". Terry le Main has also criticised and been criticised by Reform Jersey as a whole. In October 2013, le Main was reported as having referred to Reform Jersey as a "recruiting campaign for lunatic lefties for next year's elections", criticism which Reform Jersey described as a "badge of honour". His criticism of Reform Jersey was most prominent at the 2018 Jersey general election, during le Main posted regularly about Reform Jersey on Facebook - describing the party as "the gamble the Jersey electorate cannot afford to take", "100% Left wing Socialists" and calling Reform Jersey candidates "clueless, useless". Lots more of this can be found at https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Terry%20Le%20Main%20reform%20jersey.
On the basis of comments made regarding the leader of the JDA at the 2005 elections Geoff Southern, Terry Le Main does not enjoy good relations with the Left wing in Jersey.
