PORTLAND — Republicans and independents who served with former Democratic House Speaker Hannah Pingree say they are supporting her bid for governor despite party differences.
Rep. Don Marean of Hollis said she earned the respect of many House colleagues while serving as speaker from 2008-2010.
“I didn’t have to be here today, I’m a Republican and Hannah is a Democrat,” he said. “But leadership matters more than party labels. I trust Hannah to lead this state fairly, honestly and with Mainers in mind, not politics.”
Several others, including former Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta, former Rep. Les Fossel of Alna, and current Rep. Ed Crockett, an independent from Portland, stood with Pingree in Portland’s Lincoln Park Wednesday to say they will work to get her elected in November.
It’s part of a new coalition aimed at pushing Pingree over the finish line on Nov. 3 as she faces Republican Bobby Charles and former Republican and current independent Rick Bennett.
“The Maine that I believe in is not red or blue, it is not north or south, it is not rural or urban, it’s about communities where people show up for each other and they show up for their neighbors,” she said.
Crockett, a former Democrat who spent several months running for governor earlier this year, said he’s never before endorsed a political candidate. But after seeing Pingree on the campaign trail, he decided to back her for governor.
“In my opinion, the biggest challenge facing our next governor will be working with a Legislature that has drawn deep partisan lines in the sand,” he said.
Pingree said she worked with Republicans to get bipartisan budgets and bond packages passed, as well as legislation highlighting the problems with chemicals in the environment.
Yet she hasn’t been in elected office for 16 years and acknowledged that things have changed.
“I think we are living in more partisan times,” she said. “I think it is harder to work across the aisle.”
But she said over the last several years, while serving as head of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, she worked with Republicans, including House Leader Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham.
“If you talk to Republicans, Democrats and independents, we’re all talking about the same issues, our families have the same concerns,” she said.
Tony Payne, who said he was born a Republican but left the party in 2018, said he has confidence that Pingree can tackle major issues facing Maine, from healthcare to housing to energy costs.
He said she has a “middle of the road” sensibility that will help get things done.
“If we stop and think just for a moment what is facing the next governor, it is daunting,” he said.