The Maine House of Representatives will have a new speaker in 2025, and five Democrats are seeking the top post, for which they will need a majority after the November election.
There will be a lot of behind-the-scenes talk and debate before the House reconvenes in December and elects the next speaker. Democrats have had full control of the legislature and the governorship since 2018. According to CNalysis, they have a 79-67 majority over Republicans in the House and an 88 percent chance of retaining the majority.
The battle for the party leadership has begun early on the Democratic side. Former House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford, who is seeking his old seat, faces four incumbents who are claiming his old post: House Assistant Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier of Lewiston, Ed Crockett of Portland, Jim Dill of Old Town and Amy Roeder, Democrat of Bangor.
These are insider races that are often kept secret until the new Legislature comes to Augusta in December. Fecteau made it more public on Sunday when he officially announced his desire to pick up the gavel again in a social media post that included a link to his political committee.
This came as no surprise to incumbent members, several of whom said Fecteau had outlined his ambitions in an email to the caucus last spring, shortly after the legislature adjourned earlier this year.
Fecteau and Cloutier both have political committees that raise money to support Democratic legislative candidates, which is considered a plus when seeking a leadership role in the House. Roeder, Dill and Crockett are less well-known, but others have worked their way up from backbenchers to leadership positions over the years.
Current House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, Democrat of Portland, is now running for the Maine Senate. The five contenders to replace her spoke with varying degrees of detail about their plans this week, but agreed that their first goal is to help Democrats maintain their majority over Republicans and then listen to their caucus to set legislative priorities for the next session.
Fecteau is the underdog because he is not currently serving in Parliament. He was first elected to the House in 2014 and became Maine’s youngest Speaker of the House in nearly 180 years in 2020 at the age of 28. He is unopposed in the November election.
He called it “an unexpected opportunity” to run for the House again after Rep. Erin Sheehan (D-Biddeford) decided not to seek re-election. Serving as speaker during the COVID-19 pandemic is proof that he knows how to handle the job’s “pretty big learning curve,” he said.
“There are just some unique elements of the public speaking profession that you don’t really understand until you’re in the driver’s seat and doing it yourself,” says Fecteau, who works for Avesta Housing.
Cloutier, a former mayor of Lewiston and City Council president in her third consecutive term, said she used her time as vice chair to get to know lawmakers from both parties and chambers. She stressed the importance of women leading the state House and that she is the only candidate with experience on the Budget Committee.
“I think that will be critical as we move away from a period of surpluses and funding (from government pandemic aid) and get used to life after the pandemic again,” Cloutier said.
Crockett, the third-term Portland lawmaker and president of Maine-based soft drink maker Capt’n Eli’s Soda, wrote in an email that he looked forward to “discussing my hopes and expectations for the 132nd Legislature at the appropriate time,” citing the campaign’s internal tradition.
Dill, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension pest control specialist who is serving his third uninterrupted term after also serving in the House from 2010 to 2014, said he was unavailable to speak Tuesday due to a doctor’s appointment.
Roeder, a two-term president whose many jobs include running a peer recovery center, working as a freelance corporate trainer and serving as an adjunct theater professor at the University of Maine, said she was excited to hear from the five candidates for speaker and would approach the top role as a “servant leader” who considers the priorities of her colleagues.
“I know what effective leadership can do for a Democratic caucus that wants to advance Democratic priorities,” Roeder said.