The Maine House of Representatives will have a new speaker in 2025, and five Democrats are seeking the top spot that will require them to hold a majority after the November election.
It will make for many behind-the-scenes conversations and debates ahead of December, when the House will reconvene and elect the next speaker. Democrats have had full control of the Legislature and governor’s office since 2018. They have a 79-67 majority over Republicans in the House, with an 88 percent chance of keeping the majority, according to CNalysis.
The leadership race has set off early on the Democratic side. Former House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford, who is seeking his old seat, is facing four incumbents who want his old job: Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier of Lewiston, Rep. Ed Crockett of Portland, Rep. Jim Dill of Old Town and Rep. Amy Roeder, D-Bangor.
These are insider races that are often kept private until the new Legislature gets to Augusta in December. Fecteau made it more public Sunday when he officially made known his desire to once again hold the gavel in a social media post that included a link to his political committee.
It was no surprise to sitting members, several of whom said that Fecteau shared his ambitions this past spring by emailing the caucus not long after the Legislature adjourned earlier this year.
Fecteau and Cloutier both have political committees that are raising money to support Democratic legislative candidates, which is viewed as a plus when seeking a legislative leadership role. Roeder, Dill and Crockett have less name recognition, but others have risen over the years from the back benches to leadership positions.
Current House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, is now running for the Maine Senate. The five contenders to succeed her spoke at varying lengths this week about their plans while agreeing that their first goal is to help Democrats maintain their majority over Republicans and then listen to their caucus to determine legislative priorities for the next session.
Fecteau is the odd one out in terms of not currently serving in the Legislature. He was first elected to the House in 2014, and in 2020, at age 28, he became Maine’s youngest House speaker in nearly 180 years. 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 against seeking reelection. Serving as speaker during the COVID-19 pandemic is proof he knows how to handle the job’s “pretty significant learning curve,” he said.
“There are just some unique elements to the speakership that you don’t really get the hang of until you’ve been in the driver’s seat and you’re doing it,” Fecteau, who works for Avesta Housing, said.
Cloutier, a former Lewiston mayor and city council president in her third consecutive House term, said she has used her time as assistant leader to get to know members on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers. She emphasized the importance of women leading the State House and how she is the lone contender with experience on the budget committee.
“I think that’s going to be vital as we sort of move away from a time of surpluses and [federal pandemic relief] funding and as we readjust to life after the pandemic,” Cloutier said.
Crockett, the third-term Portland representative who is president of Maine soft drink company Capt’n Eli’s Soda, wrote in an email he looks forward to “discussing my hopes and expectations for the 132nd Legislature at the appropriate time,” citing the in-house tradition of the race.
Dill, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s pest management specialist who is serving his third non-consecutive term after also serving in the House from 2010 to 2014, said he was not available to speak on Tuesday due to a medical appointment.
Roeder, a two-term representative whose numerous jobs include being the executive director of a peer recovery center, working as a freelance corporate trainer and serving as an adjunct University of Maine theater professor, said she was excited to see five speaker contenders 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 move Democratic priorities forward,” Roeder said.
