On Monday Jean-Marie Caterina, a Scarborough town councilor and small business owner, announced her candidacy for District 20 in the Maine State Senate.

Caterina is a Democrat and is hoping to unseat first-term Republican incumbent Amy Volk in the November election. District 30 covers the communities of Scarborough, Gorham and Buxton.

Caterina is in her first, three-year term on the Town Council and in 2012 lost a bid for the Maine House of Representatives to Republican state Rep. Heather Sirocki.

Caterina is a real estate broker, but has also worked as a teacher, social worker, personnel administrator and marketing professional.

In announcing her run for the Maine Senate, Caterina said, “From my seat as a Town Councilor, from my job as a Realtor and as a friend and neighbor to many folks in these three towns, I hear stories about high property taxes, shortchanged public schools, and continuing attacks on the health-care options available to women.”

She added, “It is not right (and) Augusta politicians have forgotten how life should be in Maine. I am running because I am tired of politicians in Augusta not understanding how their actions negatively impact the rest of us hard-working Mainers in this district.”

Community members, parents of children in local public schools, local officials, and other area legislators all turned out in the snow Monday to support Caterina on the election trail.

Following her press conference on Monday, Caterina told the Current that she is running “to represent the people of Buxton, Scarborough, and Gorham because I am tired of some politicians in Augusta not understanding how their votes are negatively impacting us ordinary Mainers in the district.”

She reiterated that her sense of the disconnect between District 30 and Augusta has been sharpened by her time on the Scarborough Town Council as she watches “folks struggle to pay higher property taxes, worry about the quality of the public schools and wonder why our roads and bridges are in such tough shape.”

Caterina added that as a town councilor she and her fellow councilors have been “hamstrung by policies coming from Augusta, which are not helpful to our constituents.

“It is not helpful to constantly expect towns to do more with less. That thinking has led to the upward pressure on property taxes due to Augusta favoring tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the ordinary homeowner.”

For instance, Caterina said, “There are 194 households in Scarborough headed by (those older than) 65 who have an income of $10,000. There are 500 of the same with incomes maxing out at $20,000. Do we have a problem here? We sure do. That’s why I worked with my fellow councilors to introduce our own (senior) tax assistance program here in Scarborough.”

In terms of her work on the council, Caterina said the election for the State Senate would not impact her plan “to continue working diligently throughout (2016) for the people of Scarborough who elected me and deserve my full attention.”

Volk said this week that she does plan to run for re-election and will likely make a formal announcement in the next week or so.

This week Volk said it’s been a “great honor serving the people of Scarborough” adding that her focus right now is completing the work facing lawmakers this legislative session.

However, she said, “Come summer and fall, my family and I look forward to another great campaign season, which I hope to keep focused on the issues that impact our communities.”

Volk said that, “Since my election to the Senate, I have successfully worked to pass a number of bills, which positively impact our district and the state of Maine. And I have earned a strong reputation as a collaborator, finding common ground with a diverse variety of stakeholders.”

Her work in Augusta includes working with the Maine Women’s Lobby on sex trafficking, domestic violence legislation and midwifery licensure; the Bicycle Coalition of Maine on protecting vulnerable users on our roadways; Maine retailers on preventing organized retail crime; and the Maine Equal Justice Partners and Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition on General Assistance for asylees.

“I also worked with former Senate President Justin Alfond to increase and stabilize funding to homeless shelters and was recognized by the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition for successfully passing and funding a bill to prevent childhood lead poisoning,” Volk said.

Jean-Marie Caterina