Labor Champion & State Rep. Amy Roeder (AFT) Running for State Senate

Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor) is running to succeed Sen. Joe Baldacci in Senate District 9, which comprises Bangor and Hermon. Roeder is serving her third term in the Maine House where she is the co-chair of the Labor Committee. A member of three unions — the Part Time Faculty Association - AFT 4593, the Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA — Roeder is an actor, teacher and an administrator. She currently serves as the executive director of Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center and as an adjunct theater professor at the University of Maine.

Roeder has been a strong advocate for fair wages, safe working conditions and stronger collective bargaining rights in the Maine Legislation. She won the Maine AFL-CIO's 2022 Edie Beaulieu Award for supporting workers in building our power, centering working class issues as a legislator and speaking passionately about what unions have meant to her personally.

“I'm running for State Senate because it feels like an extension of the work that I've done in the House,” said Roeder. “I'm proudest of the stuff that we've been able to do for working class folks, for the poor and disenfranchised as well. I want to continue to put the focus on working Mainers.”

Roeder said some of her proudest achievements have been helping to pass earned paid family leave for 85 percent of Maine’s workforce. She said she is also proud to have worked across the aisle with former Republican Rep. Justin Fecteau of Augusta in the legislature to curtail the use of no-knock warrants by law enforcement. Roeder has also worked hard to pass farmworker rights legislation. While Governor Mills vetoed a bill to allow farmworkers to unionize, she signed a compromise bill into law that makes agricultural eligible for the minimum wage. Roeder said she will continue to work on strengthening farmworker rights in the Senate. She said she also plans to advocate for more state funding for housing and social services in Bangor.

“One of the things that has been sort of thrust to the forefront in the last two terms that I've served is just how often Bangor is left out of the equation for a lot of funding,” she said.

She said while Portland has gotten the bulk of funding in the state budget, Bangor received very little money for housing. It lost some human services contracts with the state despite having a severe HIV outbreak.

“It really does feel like we're the bastard stepchild of Maine,” said Roeder. “People appreciate us for our tax base, but they don't really give a shit about funding the programs that we need at the state level.”

Roeder said she has been very disappointed with the Mills administration for not doing more to fix the state pension system after former Governor Paul LePage and former State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin slash it to pay for tax cuts for the rich. In addition, she plans to focus on strengthening health care and supporting health care workers.

“I can't stand hearing about another hospital closing and being told that, 'we just don't have the resources to pay nurses what they're worth,’” said Roeder. “Well, why can't we hire any nurses? Maybe pay them what they're worth and then you won't have a staffing shortage. You won't have a funding crisis and you won't have to close a hospital.”