Lisa for Maine 2020 U.S. Senate Campaign Announcement + More!

Lisa Burke, Jason Rawn, me and my husband Mark Roman

John Rensenbrink (seated, right), father of the Green party, looks on as young campaign supporters frolic during my campaign announcement event in Portland 10/10/19. 

Photos and video from the Lisa for Maine 2020 U.S. Senate campaign announcement October 10, 2019 in Portland. 

left to right: Ashley Bahlkow, Jill Stein, Dud Hendrick & Kim Rich

So many great speakers joined me at the podium, speaking to a good sized crowd in the audience including a concerned polar bear and some little kids who know how to have fun while helping make a better world for all of us.

Markos Miller and Heather Nichols were both fantastic speakers on my behalf!

Speakers in order of appearance:
Sam Pfeifle, master of ceremonies par excellence
Lisa Savage, U.S. Senate exploratory candidate
Kim Rich, newly minted Green
Dud Hendrick, Climate Change Demands Action Conversion Campaign

Ashley Bahlkow, activist mom against migrant family separations and child detention

Kelly Merrill, Portland Overdose Prevention Society

Jill Stein, 2016 Green party presidential candidate
Markos Miller, former teacher with a middle school child in Portland
Heather Nichols, Portland business owner (Stones and Stuff)
Jessica Falero, Homeless community activist
John Morris, Veterans for Peace

We were also fortunate to have on hand Adam Rice of Progressive Independent News Maine who posted his video of the whole event to Facebook.

Kelly Merrill speaking to a multi-generational (multi-species?) audience

My remarks in Congress Square Park "the people's park" are here, and I'll be sharing the remarks of other speakers in coming days.

After the announcement event, I mailed off my Federal Election Commission paperwork declaring my candidacy.

FOR PORTLAND  10/10/19  by Lisa Savage

  

Thank you, everyone, for being here. I want to acknowledge that we are on indigenous land, Wabanaki land, and the importance for us to be mindful of where we stand, and the responsibility we bear.

Hi, I’m Lisa Savage, a teacher, organizer, and grandmother from Solon. With a committee of like-minded people, I am exploring  a run for the U.S. Senate seat of Susan Collins under ranked choice voting.

I want to to give Mainers a Senator who will stand up for the people, the planet and peace.

We deserve a government that works for us, not the big banks, weapons manufacturers, and fossil fuel giants who are calling the shots in Washington. And I can assure you that the wonderful people of Maine will always be my first priority. 

As a Green party candidate, I will continue the proud tradition of neither soliciting nor accepting donations from big business to fund my campaign.

As your voice in the Senate, I will focus on protecting our children’s future and their children’s future. Maine should not be a resource colony or dumping ground! I oppose the CMP Corridor

  

 through Maine’s wilderness, and I oppose the Nestle Corporation’s theft of our water. And I am firmly against privatization of the VA which many in Maine depend on for primary health care.

I believe, as residents of the richest country in world history, everyone deserves the fundamentals of a secure life -- like affordable housing for all. No one needs to live in poverty!  Children should never experience food insecurity, wondering where their next meal will come from.   

We need a Green New Deal that creates union jobs with benefits, putting 1000’s to work tackling climate crisis.

We need Medicare for All -- a healthcare system that will work for everyone regardless of employment status, and not drive sick people into bankruptcy. In Maine we urgently need harm reduction for the health crisis of opioid addiction, and treatment of addiction as medical rather than criminal.

We deserve quality education for all, including free public higher education, without student debt.

As a teacher in Maine, I work with children whose families are struggling to survive in an economy that’s thrown working people under the bus.

We’re also facing a dire emergency in climate crisis. It’s already harming farms, fisheries, and the Maine coast. Sea level rise will affect a great many of our coastal towns, and the Gulf of ME is warming faster than the oceans themselves. We must act now to protect our families and neighbors. We can invest in a Green New Deal building sustainable energy solutions now and create thousands of good jobs in the process.

Yet with all the urgent needs we face, Congress is making things worse, giving over 55% of our federal discretionary budget to the Pentagon for endless, unwinnable wars that make the world less safe.   

U.S. policies separating migrant families and caging children and babies make us less secure, too, and this needs to stop   immediately. Why isn't Susan Collins, who claims to represent us, doing something to stop this horrific practice? I can assure you I will do everything in my power to stop it if you send me to Washington.

We, the people of Maine, expect humane treatment of immigrants and refugees from our government. A former beacon of refuge for newcomers, now the U.S. is losing that reputation --  for good reason. Welcoming refugees to Portland was such a brilliant response to a humanitarian emergency, with so many cooperating -- this is what Mainers are good at, and I want to help us keep doing it! 

It’s time to say no to politics as usual, and join together to fight for a new system that puts people, planet and peace over profit. 

We have a historic opportunity in this race to use Ranked Choice Voting. 

Our new and improved voting system, which Mainers won through an inspiring grassroots movement, gives everyone the freedom to vote their values, not their fears.

Together we can seize this moment to build a people-powered campaign that will make history.

A recent national poll found a staggering 70% of Americans are fed up with our political system that only works for insiders with money.

I’ve been a small business owner myself, and my husband is a self-employed woodworker. I know how hard it is to operate a small business in Maine when tax laws are written by and for the wealthy. Working people are the backbone of our state and it isn’t fair when people work hard and still can’t make it. Young people saddled with education debt and high rents should not be struggling! They should be starting ventures or families, buying homes, instead of slaving away at 3 Mcjobs to barely make their student loan payments.  

Now, with ranked choice voting, we have a real choice. More voices and more choices make me hopeful!

   

We’ve never had a better opportunity -- or a more urgent need -- to come together for the greater good. 

I hope you’ll consider supporting my campaign to give Mainers a Senator for  people, planet and peace.

Together, let’s create a Maine and a nation that works for all of us!