SANFORD — There will be a race for the Democratic nod in House District 19, when the city committee hosts its caucus Monday night.

Artist, photographer and longtime organic sheep farmer Jean Noon, 66, of Springvale declared earlier this month her intention to seek the Democratic nod to run for the seat held by her late husband, Bill Noon, who died of a rare form of cancer July 15.

Also seeking the nod from Democrats in District 19 is Robert Frechette II, of Springvale. Frechette, 53, announced his intention to run earlier this week. The owner of Keystone Leasing manages 150-200 apartments, owns Oakwood Inntown Motel and an energy audit company called Heat Miser.

Republicans in the district caucused Thursday night, and elected Matthew Harrington as the candidate.

Gov. Paul LePage has called a special election for Nov. 3 to fill the vacancy created by Bill Noon’s death. Noon had won his second, two-year term in November.

Jean Noon said she always supported her husband and his involvement in state government.

“I want to carry on his work and represent the people of (the district) in Augusta,” she said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Jean Noon has been an organic sheep farmer, producing wool and meat, since 1971. An artist, she works on watercolors and more recently in wire sculpture.

She said she has previ- ously been asked to run for office. If elected, the longtime Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association member and president of the Three Rivers Land Trust hopes to be appointed to the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry committee, as was her late husband.

Frechette said he has always planned to be involved in politics.

“I always knew I would one day,” he said. As a business owner he said he works with payroll taxes and workers’ compensation and similar businessrelated functions every day . Frechette said he sees successes and abuses of programs.

“Gov. LePage is talking about welfare reform and I have a pretty good idea of what is working and what is not,” he said.

Both Noon and Frechette have adult children and grandchildren.

Harrington, the GOP candidate, is a police officer in Kennebunk who first made a bid for the Legislature in 2014 – a race Bill Noon won by a 1,697-1,554 vote. In the run-up to the 2014 election, Harrington, who was a firefighter before he became a police officer, said he supported the drive to add more state law enforcement agents to combat the drugs flowing into Maine. He said the state needs to cut taxes and regulations that he believes hurt business and that education should include more vocational and technical programs.

The Democratic caucus is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Nasson Community Center. Unenrolled candidates who wish to shift their affiliation may do so that evening. Only those Democrats living within the confines of District 19 may vote in the caucus, city committee officials have said.

Green Independents have not set a caucus. Petitions for non-party candidates may be requested from the Elections Division and must be submitted to the Secretary of State by 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, according to SOS spokeswoman Kristen Muszynski. Write-in candidates must declare and file with the Secretary of State by 5 p.m. Sept. 14.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.