BMDA President Trent Vellella is Running for the Maine House

Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association (UAW 3999) President Trent Vellella is running for the Maine House of Representatives in District 49, which includes the towns of Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath, and Woolwich. He says he is running to “be a thoughtful, steady voice—someone who shows up, does the work, and focuses on leaving things better than I found them.”

“I’ve spent my life here, and like a lot of people in this district, I value self-reliance, community, and just getting things done without a lot of noise,” said Vellella in a statement on his website. “In my work as an elected union official, I’ve spent years representing people, solving problems, and navigating tough conversations where there aren’t easy answers. That experience has taught me how to listen, how to find common ground, and how to make steady, practical progress on issues that make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Vellella said his priorities if elected will be to lower the costs of housing, child care and elder care and health care.

“Housing costs are rising to the point where people who grew up here—or even people like me who bought a home not that long ago—would struggle to afford it today,” he continued. “I hear it constantly: people are working hard and still can’t get ahead. We need to take this seriously and look at practical ways to make it possible for local families to live and stay here.”

A lifelong Mainer, Vellella grew up in Phippsburg and Bath. He has lived in West Bath with his wife and two daughters for the past 12 years. Both his parents worked at Bath Iron Works and would take him to work with them as a kid to see what they did at the shipyard. He loved watching the ceremonies when a ship was launched, but he never thought he would end up working there himself. But after a stint at the University of Maine at Farmington and working a number of other jobs, he decided to enter a four-year design apprenticeship through Maine Maritime Academy and used those credits to get his degree at UMF. After that, he pursued his masters degree in business administration. He’s been working at BIW for 19 years. While working at the shipyard, he decided to get more involved with his union.

“I think my interest in being involved in the union started when I was in the apprenticeship program,” said Vellella. “I saw the impact that the union had in terms of the joint apprenticeship committee and the administration of the program and I thought that that was really interesting.”

He was first elected to the union’s Board of Trustees in 2011, serving a couple terms before being elected Vice President and then President of the union. Vellella said had thought about running for public office before but it always seemed “unattainable.”

“I didn't think I had the type of upbringing, pedigree or credentials that would make for a viable candidate,” he said. “Not that I didn't think I wouldn't be able to do the job, but I didn't think that a normal person could run. I thought you had to have a very curated profile.”

But Vellella also knew he had valuable skills to offer from his work as a union leader negotiating and enforcing his union's contract. Over the years, he has worked to build consensus around the bargaining table and developed problem-solving skills in working with his members and the company. He discussed running for the State House with his Rep. Alison Hepler (D-Woolwich), who encouraged him to pursue it. Then during the most recent round of BMDA’s contract negotiations that culminated in a week-long strike this past spring, Vellella decided he wanted to make a run for the seat Hepler was leaving due to term limits. This past January, he took the Maine AFL-CIO's Worker Candidate Training, where he learned everything he needed to run an effective campaign.

“I realized that even if you have the most favorable conditions for negotiations, the best negotiating committee, and the strongest membership, there's only so much that you can achieve even with a really good collective bargaining agreement, particularly around things like the cost of health care,” he said. I realized, 'wow, there have got to be other levers.'”

He sees the role of a legislator similarly to position as a union leader in that he will be negotiating “a contract between the state of Maine and the people of Maine" to ensure the government is efficient and effective and provides the best quality services.

“I think that health care is a human right and I think there are lots of things that we could do as a state to try and improve accessibility and affordability of healthcare for folks, whether that is pediatric or across the whole range,” he said.

Trent Vellella is currently collecting checks to qualify for Clean Elections funding for his campaign. You can donate to him here.