Rep-Elect Kilton Webb (IBEW 567) Discusses Election Victory

Last week, Western Maine Labor Council Vice President & IBEW 567 member Kilton Webb (D-Durham, Pownal),  won his election to the Maine House of Representatives by 55 votes. As we reported last week, our union canvassers knocked on 3,717 doors and ID'd 813 voters to help elect Webb, who also hit roughly 2300 doors himself.
 

Webb said what drove him to run for office was his disappointment in the previous representative who was absent for nearly 70 percent of the legislative session this year. When he did show up, he consistently voted against pro-labor legislation, earning a 0 percent score on our 2024 Maine AFL-CIO Working Families Legislative Scorecard. So Webb put his feelers out, spoke to people in the community and gauged whether he could win the district. It's a conservative leaning area, but he believed he had a chance.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here in Maine and I wanted to make sure it was actually being done,” said Webb.

In January, Webb took the two-day Maine AFL-CIO Worker Candidate Training which walked him through how to develop his campaign and file the proper paperwork to get on the ballot and qualify for Clean Elections funding. He said the most helpful part of the training was learning how to craft a stump speech because it allowed him to hone his message for voters. Webb also effectively used social media to organize support for his campaign in the community.

While Webb had done some canvassing to support Bates workers during their union drive in 2022, he had never hit as many doors as he did during his House campaign. He became adept at reading voters’ body language and figuring out what issues resonated with them. Webb’s main pitch to voters was his support for registered apprenticeships to train the next generation of electricians, plumbers, carpenters and other trades to address the workforce shortage in skilled workers.

“The trades are hurting right now for people. The average age for people in the trades is well into their 50s. It felt like every other person I talked to said things like, ‘My electrician’s been trying to retire for ten years and he’s 72 years old.’ Or, ‘My plumber is 80 and he just retired.’”

Talking to voters he learned about a local issue involving a bridge between Lisbon and Bowdoin that got washed out in flooding last year and hadn’t been repaired. Webb tied his pitch to develop a skilled workforce through registered apprenticeships with the need to fix roads and bridges, wireless infrastructure and the electrical grid.

“I also make it clear that these aren’t things you can just snap your fingers and change,” he said. “You need to have not only the will to have the money to fix it, but you need to have the people to do the work.”

Meanwhile, Webb hopes to get appointed to the Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee to focus on issues impacting working people. His priorities including funding pre-apprenticeship programs and strengthening property tax relief programs. He urges other workers considering a run for local or state office to take the Worker Candidate Training when the Maine AFL-CIO offers it in January, 2026.

“I think the most important thing that we need to do in the labor movement is to help build out bench of viable candidates, especially in rural communities,” he said.