Five legislative hopefuls — three Democrats and two political independents — took the stage Thursday at Biddeford High School to answer a series of questions from a panel of local journalists.
By RANDY SEAVER | Editor
Five of the seven candidates who want to represent portions of Biddeford in the next Maine Legislature took the stage Thursday evening at Biddeford High School’s Little Theater Auditorium as part of a “candidate forum,” co-sponsored by the Heart of Biddeford and the Biddeford + Saco Chamber of Commerce.
Three Democrats and two unenrolled “independent” candidates answered a series of questions posed by local reporters from Saco Bay News, the Biddeford Buzz, the Portland Press Herald and the Biddeford Gazette.
Fewer than 30 members of the public attended Thursday’s event, which was livestreamed on the Heart of Biddeford’s Facebook page.
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Organizers repeatedly reminded the small audience and the candidates that the event was a forum, and not what is generally considered a political debate.
But there were several moments when some of the candidates seemed clearly ready to take off the gloves, despite the forum’s ground rules.
Candidates were told to keep their remarks strictly in response to questions posed by the journalists.
Each media outlet was allowed to ask each candidate two questions; the candidates were then allowed 60 seconds each to respond to the questions on topics ranging from housing affordability, the state’s controversial needle exchange program, coastal erosion, immigration enforcement activity and the state’s lagging educational test results.
On the stage were the two men hoping to represent Biddeford in the Maine State Senate, incumbent Henry Ingwersen, a Democrat; and Jason Litalien, an unenrolled candidate who previously ran for the Biddeford mayor’s seat in 2019.
Throughout the evening, Litalien hammered at Ingwersen’s track record over the last four years, repeatedly asking, “if you knew there was a problem, why haven’t you fixed it?”
Ingwersen touted several of his legislative accomplishments, maintaining that his “doggedly hard work and experience” has produced real benefits for his constituents.
Three candidates hoping to represent portions of Biddeford in the Maine House of Representatives also had an opportunity to make their case before the small audience.
The tension between Democrat incumbent Marc Malon and his independent challenger, veteran Biddeford City Council Marc Lessard, was palpable.
Both men are hoping to represent House District 133.
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Malon has been unchallenged for the seat in his first two terms, but Lessard came out of the gate swinging, making no bones about the stark differences between him and his opponent, saying the district deserves more than a partisan “rubber stamp” approach to problem solving.
“Maine is now 43rd in business climate rankings,” Lessard stated. “And we’re now 41st in education [testing results], “If elected, I will be the wall between you and the crazy budgets from Augusta, and I will not crumble.”
Malon was unfazed and said he was proud of his track record. “I have always “stood up for dignity,” he said, pointing out that working collaboratively with all stakeholders — including lawmakers on the other side of the political aisle — is the “only way to be effective and achieve substantive and meaningful results.”
Traci Gere is hoping for a fourth term in the legislative district that represents Biddeford’s coastal neighborhoods and the adjacent town of Kennebunkport.
Gere’s opponent, Kennebunkport Town Councilor Allen Daggett, chose not to attend Thursday’s forum.
Gere who described her district as “the coast with the most” said attending events such as Thursday’s candidate forum is an important part of being a representative, accountable to the people she represents in Augusta. “I believe it’s important to show up, and to be responsive to emails and telephone calls,” she said.
Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat, is not being challenged for his reelection bid in House District 134. Fecteau reportedly had a scheduling conflict and could not attend the event.
Roch Angers, a former Biddeford city councilor and longtime political observer of the city’s political landscape, attended Thursday’s forum — sitting in the very back row of the auditorium.
“Honestly, I was a little disappointed,” Angers said of the one-hour forum. “I was hoping for a little more substance. The rules seemed very strict. I would have preferred an old-fashioned debate.”
Different questions, different perspectives
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Although details of a looming $1.3 billion state budget gap were released only 24 hours before Thursday’s candidate forum, the candidates did not spend much time discussing the projected budget gap, instead focusing the bulk of their remarks to direct questions from the panel of local journalists.
The Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services released the four-year forecast of revenues and expenditures on Wednesday. That report reveals a projected General Fund structural gap (revenues less than allocations) for the 2028-2029 fiscal years of $1.085 billion, including a projected gap of roughly $257 million in the state’s highway fund.
Maine Republicans — who are outflanked by a slim margin in the House and a deeper minority in the Senate –pounced on the report as evidence that the Democrat-controlled Legislature has a spending problem.
But in Biddeford – and in several other legislative races around Maine, including Old Orchard Beach – there has been a noticeable uptick in so-called independent (officially unenrolled candidates). In fact, there are no Republican candidates challenging the Democrat incumbents who represent Biddeford, a city that has traditionally favored sending Democrats to Augusta.
But there were clear lines of political differences evident during Thursday’s candidate forum.
For example, when asked what the state should do about immigration enforcement – Malon and Lessard offered starkly different responses.
Malon said he was proud to support legislation such as LD 1971, a new law which limits local cooperation with federal agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE).
“We need to welcome new people to our state,” Malon said, reminding the audience of the KKK’s failed 1924 attempt to cross the Saco River in order to harass Catholic immigrant mill workers.
Lessard blamed the national media for underreporting problems associated with illegal immigration, telling the audience that he had photos of the 200 women “who were raped by illegal immigrants.”
“It’s not a story they (national media outlets) want to tell,” Lessard said.
Ingwersen and Litalien also offered markedly different responses to the immigration question.
“This is a federal issue,” Litalien said. “The tragedies we’re seeing across the country are a direct result of local law enforcement not cooperating with federal agents.”
“The tragedies we’re seeing
— Jason Litalien
across the country are
a direct result of local
law enforcement not
cooperating with federal agents.”
Litalien noted that his grandfather emigrated to Biddeford from Quebec, but was required to have a job, a sponsor and prove that he could sustain himself. “The state simply doesn’t have the power or authority to change federal law. We need law and order.”
Ingwersen blamed a spate of fatal shootings by ICE agents on “a lack of accountability, training and safeguards.”
“They (ICE) can’t be trusted to operate here,” Ingwersen said, noting that the vast majority of immigrants are in the country legally and contributing to society.
“They (ICE) can’t be
— Henry Ingwersen
trusted to operate here.”
All of the candidates agreed that affordable housing is one of the most important issues facing the state, but they offered a variety of different opinions about how to best approach that issue.
“Augusta doesn’t know anything about housing,” Lessard said.
But Malon said the state should focus its attention of creating more housing to soften demand. “We need government to get out of the way and reduce red tape.”
When asked how to attract and retain younger residents who are struggling to keep pace with inflation, Litalien pointed to a round of new tax increases approved earlier this year as the exact wrong approach. “You can’t just keep spending money you don’t have,” he said.
Ingwersen said he is a proud of the state’s commitment to provide free tuition for students at Maine’s community colleges. “More than 23,000 students have benefited from this program,” he said, noting that those graduates provide a pipeline of skilled workers into Maine’s economy.
The candidates had sharply different views about Maine’s controversial needle exchange program.
“People are suffering and the state is too slow to act,” Lessard said. “We have got to move faster. We can’t have young children finding drug needles on the ground.” Lessard said he does not support the needle exchange program.
But Malon said the program has saved lives, telling the audience that he recently met with seven women in recovery who told him that the state’s program – along with community support – gave them the opportunity to reclaim their lives and become active community members.
Ingwersen said he supports the program but admitted that it needs to be reexamined and possibly readjusted.
Litalien, however, was adamant in saying he opposed the state’s needle exchange program.
Lessard and Litalien both said they will be fiercely independent if elected and will not be allegiant to any political party.
Lessard said being an independent in a tightly divided House, could give Biddeford “a lot of power” when it comes to breaking potential ties on the House floor.
Malon said many candidates believe they can operate completely independently but soon discover a reality that collaboration is an essential requirement of public service.
But Litalien said the concept of caucusing with either political party was, itself, “a big part of the problem in Augusta.”
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