I know you expect me to be running on a platform – where I have the answers for everything we should do – but I think running on a platform, rather than running as people, is what got us into this whole mess. A Senator shouldn’t have all the answers. A Senator should show that they are the type of person who can figure out the best answers for today, tomorrow and the years ahead, and work collaboratively to make those answers your reality.  

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Let me start by telling you why I’m considering this.

I'm doing this for my dad — a dairy farmer turned mason turned construction supervisor whose own dad worked at Bath Iron Works. I come from a politically divided home: a progressive Democratic mom and a staunch, salt-of-the-earth Republican dad. I watched him turn Democrat in 2016. And I watched last year as, at 76, he did something shocking: he started going to political rallies, out of disappointment with the state of the country. My dad doesn't like the divisiveness of America. He wants civility and collaboration back in politics. Everything is too expensive, and he's angry at what the state is going through. He feels it doesn't reflect the will or the spirit of the people.

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I don't think he's alone. I think he speaks for nearly all Mainers, at home and away. He certainly speaks for me. We need a state Mainers can afford, unified in our vision of the future, and led with the civility we've long been known for. That civility is what has let Maine punch above its weight with leaders like Snowe, Mitchell, and Muskie, all of whom were independent thinkers with strong judgment and the ability to work in a complex system to get things done.

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And we're at a unique moment. Whatever Maine does at this convention will set a precedent for the nation. The leader we choose will help shape the future of the country, not just the state, in a decade when rapid technological change and a changing environment will demand leaders focused on solutions and unification, not division. After years of division and doubling costs, we need leadership that creates, not destroys. We need imagination, hard work, and the capacity to deliver on what our communities demand: affordable housing, access to healthcare, and the right to live life "the way life should be."

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For that, I'm raising my hand.

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I am an Ampersand - a person who has both a creative and a business career. In my case as an artist, storyteller, painter and C-Suite executive. This is my secret weapon because it means I've done more in more areas than most people and I've learned how to work with endless types of people. I have a unique and particular set of skills that is good in this moment. 

 

During COVID, I led two grassroots programs: one brought computers into ICUs so dying family members could say goodbye; the other, a public art initiative to help us grieve the people we lost, helped introduce legislation for a National COVID Memorial Day. I hold a master's degree in International Security, where I focused on a skill set I think we need today: how communities recover from violence and discord. And I've spent the last twenty years working across nearly every industry, where my job was to listen to complex issues, figure out what was at the heart of them, and then how to talk about and solve them. In short: I'm good at this work, and I'd like to do this work for you.

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The role of a Senator is to work on behalf of the state to ensure it's supported at the federal level. But it is also to share the values and moral principles of the state with the country and the world. It's a job that requires a strong backbone but a warm handshake, a friendly smile, and a belief that cooperation creates a union. The House is the arena for fighting. The Senate was built for people who solve complex problems together.

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I should be honest about the obvious: I haven't lived in Maine in twenty years. I left because the career I wanted wasn't possible at home, and I didn't know, then, how to change that. I spent eight of those years trying to buy a home here — shocked, like you, as prices doubled — and recently did, in Bristol, where my family and I, my “now retired” dad included, have been fixing it up together. I'm coming home. And I'm bringing back with me everything I learned out there.

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I also know this party has been burned by surprises which I think are in part due to choosing platform over person. I haven't held office, so no opposition researcher has been through my life, but I’m nothing if not transparent. Ask me anything within reason, and respectfully of my boundaries, between now and July 25. I'll answer any question a delegate has, directly. You deserve a nominee who you feel comfortable stands for what you believe in. 

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I have long carried a belief that any child born of Maine knows: when you see someone in crisis, and you have the tools to help, you stop and ask if you can be of service. We do that when someone's car breaks down, when someone gets sick on a trail, when a house catches fire. It's just who we are.

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That's what I'm asking now: shall I take my skills and my tools and help?

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Here is my offer. I'll build relationships for Maine within Washington and further afield — with the companies and industries that can help us reduce housing costs, increase high-paying jobs, protect the environment, and ensure access to healthcare. I'll represent you and your values on the national stage the way I've been doing professionally for the past twenty years. I'll work hard, fight when needed, collaborate when needed, and imagine when needed because the crisis we're in isn't a lack of willingness to engage, its a failure of imagination to see a new alternative and to bring people together to create it.

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I'm doing this for my dad, for your dad, and for all the sons and daughters who call Maine home. I was raised in the greatest state on earth. Our parents knew that when they decided to raise us here. I'd like to say thank you for all you've given me by giving something back — if you'll have me.

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A signature isn't a vote for me but it is a first step in saying you think I deserve to be considered. I need 500 signatures for that chance, will you sign?

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With love and appreciation, 

Kristina