Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Tom Ledue, and his family spent last week touring Aroostook County together where his wife, Claire, is from Grand Isle and his mother, Doris, is from Connor.
Contributed photo
DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE candidate Tom Ledue, a high school administrator from Sanford, spent school vacation week touring Aroostook County with his wife Claire and four daughters. One of Ledue’s campaign stops was the Northeastland Hotel in Presque Isle and the UM-Presque Isle campus.
Ledue, his wife and their four girls stopped in Houlton, Mars Hill, Caribou, Presque Isle, Grand Isle and Madawaska to visit with local business people, dignitaries and hold discussions with residents in their homes.
“The people of Aroostook County need to be heard as well as the people of York and Cumberland counties. There is only one Maine and our campaigning, economic priorities and policy decisions need to reflect that. When we look to the future the farms, energy resources and mills of Aroostook County need to be a vital part of our future for our state and a nation. During our time in Aroostook we listened to people from all walks of life as well continued to explore the vast potential of this area,” said the 44-year-old high school administrator from Sanford.
In January Ledue kicked off his run for the Senate with a “compass point tour” of the state that began with two days in Fort Kent. He came back last week to make sure that he could spend time talking with people in more towns across the county. This time though the candidate was able to bring his wife and four daughters, — Natalie, 14; Catherine, 12; Annie, 9; and Rachel, 5. During school vacation week they were able to combine campaigning with some family time and a return home.
While some question the wisdom of campaigning in an area with a small percentage of Maine’s voters, Ledue was determined to get back to the area.
“The Saint John Valley is too often forgotten in the political world. We need to make sure that every Mainer is considered when we talk about setting a new course for Maine and the nation. Nowhere is it more apparent that we need to reorganize our national priorities to invest in our people and our communities. Places like Aroostook County face great challenges but they also hold great potential that could be developed to demonstrate what is possible if we think about things a little differently,” he said.
One of Ledue’s core goals is to strengthen communities by shifting federal subsidy priorities to help towns and cities develop local clean power generation, support local agriculture and local industry that adds value to local resources.
“Helping our communities would be much simpler than we are led to believe. We utilize the resources of the area: an amazing work force, farm and timberlands, and great capacity for clean energy generation to name a few. We then consider some of the greatest needs of the area: jobs, transportation infrastructure, and energy independence. We then provide opportunity to meet these needs in the form of either federal block grants or zero interest loans. Our towns would be able to become more secure by investing in energy efficiency, clean energy generation from wind, river, solar, and geothermal sources, support the local food supply, and grow their economies by promoting local industry. We do not have to live in a country in which people have to choose between eating and heating there homes or where our children can not afford to live their lives in their home towns. We simply need to reset our priorities and say ‘Enough is enough.’ Our people need us and we must lead toward a better future for all,” he said.
Ledue family campaigning included talking with people in six towns, a tour of the University of Maine Research Farm in Presque Isle, time with students at UMPI, a tour of Frasier Papers Mill in Madawaska, greeting workers at the mill shift change, a house party in Madawaska and several interviews with local media.
Ledue is challenging U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland in the June 10 Democratic primary. The winner will represent their party in the November U.S. Senate election against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
For more information on the candidate, visit www.tomledue.com or contact Tom Ledue at tom@tomledue.com.
