The Local News asked candidates in three house and two senate races for the Maine Legislature to answer six questions in order to help voters make an informed choice.

Candidates were given up to 200 words per answer. We have not edited the candidates’ answers for substance, argument or viewpoint. We only lightly edited for length, obvious typos or formatting consistency. We did not fact-check or add commentary to candidates’ answers. Candidates’ answers in each race appear in alphabetical order.

Questionnaires will appear in this order:

House District 134: Allen Daggett (I), Traci Gere (D) — Tuesday (read it here)

House District 135: Scott Craig (I), Lisa Joy Pratt (D) — Wednesday (read it here)

House District 140: Wayne Perry (R), Kirstan Watson (D) — Thursday

Senate District 32: Henry Ingwersen (D), Jason Litalien (I) — Friday

Senate District 34: Jonathan Fallon (R), Dan Sayre (D)  — Saturday

House District 140 (Arundel, Dayton, Lyman, partially):

Kirstan Watson (Democrat)

1. What specific issue facing your town or district led you to run for this seat?  How would you bring this to the attention of other legislators in Augusta? 

I wasn’t drawn to run by one single issue as much as by a lifetime of connection to this community. I was raised here, this community helped shape who I am, and my gratitude for that is hard to measure. I’m now in the final year of a three-year term on the RSU 21 School Board of Directors, where I’ve seen firsthand both the challenges our communities face and how much thoughtful, practical leadership matters. Before public service, I spent 26 years running a service-based small business. That work taught me to listen, solve problems, build trust, keep commitments and be accountable to the people I served. My time on the Board has shown me that those same skills have real value in public life. Running for the Legislature feels like a continuation of that service. I want to bring what I’ve learned from my neighbors, local government and small-business ownership to Augusta, while making sure the realities of rural communities are part of the conversation.

2. What would be your top three priorities in your first term? 

The high cost of living is a top priority, but we have to be honest about the legislature’s power to control prices. Market forces dictate prices, but legislatures can reduce the burden people feel by improving the systems around them. Housing, property taxes, child care, health coverage, energy and transportation all affect whether a family can make its budget work. We can also reduce unnecessary friction by requiring clearer insurance information, stronger consumer protections and systems that are easier to navigate.
Just as crucial is strengthening Maine’s workforce and local economies. Maine’s aging
population means more people will retire just as demand grows for health care and other support services. Robust workforce training, attainable housing and income-based property tax relief are areas where policy investments can empower working families, farms, and seniors to live stable lives here.
Community resilience requires reliable infrastructure investment, energy security and diversity, strong and stable schools, and meaningful access to health-care services. Meeting those needs requires policies that address immediate problems without creating greater challenges in the future. A commitment to that goal is my third priority that ties this work together.

3. What state-level policies would you support to address Maine’s housing shortage and rising cost of housing? How could you help to implement increased housing in your district?

Maine has made meaningful investments in housing, but increasing supply alone will not solve affordability. A new $600,000 home does little for a family that can afford $300,000. We also need to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, protect manufactured-home communities and create realistic downsizing options for seniors so larger homes can return to the market for growing families. I support continued investment in workforce and affordable housing, rehabilitation of existing homes, property-tax relief for fixed-income households and investment in the skilled trades needed to build more housing. I also want to explore rewarding municipalities for measurable results, not simply changes on paper. Communities that preserve affordable homes, create workforce housing, protect manufactured-home parks or meet locally appropriate production goals could receive infrastructure funding, technical assistance or performance-based grants with recapture provisions when promised outcomes are not maintained. Our goal should be to preserve what is affordable now, build what working people actually need, improve housing mobility and ensure public investment produces durable public benefit.

4. What would you do to improve health care access and affordability in Maine,
including the future of MaineCare funding? Would you support supplemental
funding of Maine Care into the future? If not, why not?

Yes, I would support supplemental MaineCare funding when necessary to protect patient access and prevent destabilizing providers. But emergency funding cannot become a substitute for fixing the underlying system. Maine families, employers, schools and municipalities are already paying the price for a health-care system that is expensive, unpredictable and difficult to navigate. Premiums rise sharply, deductibles and copays remain high, coverage is often confusing, and not everyone is insured. I have seen firsthand how double-digit insurance increases can significantly strain a school budget and ultimately fall back on taxpayers. Improving affordability therefore has to mean more than subsidizing premiums. We should reduce administrative inefficiency, strengthen consumer protections, improve transparency, support adequate provider reimbursement and invest in the workforce needed to deliver care. I also support serious consideration of structural reforms that could expand coverage, reduce administrative waste and stabilize costs for households, employers and taxpayers. Maine’s aging population makes that work even more urgent.

5. In terms of energy, Maine is highly impacted by the volatility of the oil market, a
primary source of heating fuel for many here,  do you see any “out of the box”
solutions to this dilemma? Should the state be more focused and create more
incentives for heat pumps, solar power, and wind? If not, why?

Maine spends more than $4.5 billion a year on imported petroleum, leaving families exposed to global markets we can’t control. Renewable energy can reduce that outflow, keeping more dollars right here at home. I support continued incentives for heat pumps, weatherization, solar, wind and energy storage, while supporting the broader goal of energy independence, affordability and resilience over simply promoting particular technologies. Efficiency should come first. A well-insulated home with an efficient heating system requires less energy, offering built-in protection for household budgets. We can also invest in local generation, battery storage and community-scale energy projects that can strengthen communities and keep critical facilities operating during outages. I believe we need to ask harder questions about energy resilience and ownership: who owns the assets, who carries the financial risk, and who receives the long-term returns? If taxpayers help finance energy infrastructure, we should receive measurable and lasting public benefit. Maine should diversify its energy supply in ways that lower household costs, increase community resilience, strengthen the grid and build more economic value here at home.

6. What statewide policies would you support or initiate to help manage growing
climate change effects such as power outages, flooding, and the need to adapt our infrastructure?

Maine needs to treat climate resilience as long-term infrastructure planning, not just disaster response. Rebuilding the same roads, culverts, bridges and public facilities after every major storm is expensive and leaves communities vulnerable to the next one. I support continued investment in flood-resistant roads and bridges, larger culverts and drainage systems, stronger grid infrastructure, vegetation management, battery storage and backup power for critical facilities. We should also use updated flood and weather-risk data when planning future infrastructure so public dollars are not spent rebuilding systems already known to be vulnerable. I strongly support Maine’s community-based resilience model. Programs that provide towns with technical assistance, engineering support and grants are especially important for smaller rural communities that may know exactly where their vulnerabilities are but lack the staff or resources to address them. The best statewide policy gives communities reliable data, technical expertise and funding while allowing local knowledge to help determine which investments will create the greatest resilience.

Wayne Perry (Republican)
Wayne Perry Allen chose not to respond to the candidate questionnaire from The Local News.