Jacobs first ran for a seat to the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the
1979 Alberta general election as a candidate for
Social Credit. He ran in the electoral district of
Cardston, mounting a strong challenge to incumbent
John Thompson but was unable to defeat him. Jacobs ran for the Progressive Conservative nomination in a convention held on February 12, 1986, in the town of
Magrath. He was defeated by
Jack Ady who would go on to win the district. In the
2008 Alberta general election, Jacobs was elected to his second term, representing
Cardston-Taber-Warner. He sat on the Private Bills Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Standing Committee on Public Safety and Services. On September 16, 2009, Jacobs was named Parliamentary Assistant for Agriculture and Rural Development. Jacobs first entered provincial politics in
2001 Alberta general election, during that term he chaired the Health Information Act Review Committee and sat on several other committees. In the
2004 Alberta general election, Jacobs lost by a 129-vote margin to
Paul Hinman, a then-
Alberta Alliance party member. He regained his seat in the Legislature in 2008, with a 38-vote margin over Hinman, leader of the
Wildrose Alliance Party, shutting the party out of the Legislature in an election where the
Progressive Conservatives took 72 of the 83 seats provincewide. Before entering provincial politics, Jacobs served as a councillor for 18 years in the Municipal District of
Cardston. He was a reeve for 17 of those years. As a municipal politician, Jacobs sat on numerous committees and task forces. He was a director of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties for four years and president of the Foothills-Little Bow association, which represents the 11 municipal districts and counties in southern Alberta. ==Personal life and death==