Ellie Espling, the Republican incumbent from New Gloucester, is running against Democrat Elijah Breton of Poland for the Maine House District 65 seat. District 65 covers New Gloucester and part of Poland.

Espling, 43, has served for three terms as a representative and served on the budget committee for the town of New Gloucester for two terms prior to being elected to the Legislature. She is married with four children.

Breton, 22, is a recent graduate of Ithaca College in New York. He was raised in Poland.

Espling said she wants to run for office “not just to be an advocate for one issue, but to advocate for issues important to people I represent.”

One of the biggest issues facing the state is high levels of opiate addiction, said Espling. In addressing this problem, the Legislature “needs to look at what treatment options are effective, and pool our resources toward what is most effective,” she said.

She said the Legislature should look into options for preventative care, to keep people from addiction.

Espling said among her constituents, one of the biggest concerns is for seniors on a fixed income who have difficulty meeting their medical costs, as well as the costs of day-to-day living.

“We need to avoid policies that pass costs onto Mainers who are struggling to pay the bills,” Espling said.

When asked if she would support legislative action against Gov. Paul LePage in response to the voicemail he left Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, in August, Espling said she would not know whether she would support such legislation until she read it.

Asked who she would support as a presidential candidate, she said she would “rather talk about my candidacy and what we need to do at a state level.”

Espling will vote no on all the referendum questions.

She said she does not support Question 1 because “it’s a contradiction to legalize marijuana for recreational use when we’re in the middle of such a drug crisis in the state.”

Espling will vote against Question 2, to raise a 3 percent income tax on income $200,000 per year or greater to fund public education, because it may make it harder for Maine to attract professionals to the state.

Question 3, to require background checks for private gun sales, “goes too far,” she said, “and will only hurt law-abiding gun owners.” Espling said it won’t be effective in fixing the gun-show loophole that proponents of the bill say it will solve.

Espling will not vote in favor of Question 4, to raise the minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $12 per hour by 2020, because it eliminates the tip credit and indexes the minimum wage so it increases with inflation.

Because the increased cost of wages will lead to increased costs for businesses and ultimately may lead to higher prices for goods and services, “this is a really clear way of passing off costs to Maine’s elderly, on a fixed income,” Espling said.

She does not support rank-choice voting, Question 5, because she supports “one person, one vote, and I think it’s contrary to that,” she said.

Rank-choice voting would allow voters to rank candidates in order of their preference, and second- and third-choice votes would be taken into account if none of the candidates win a majority of votes.

As a legislator, she voted for Question 6, which would appropriate $100 million in bonds for road projects, to be sent out to voters. However, “I typically do not vote for bonds in the voting booth,” she said. “So most likely I won’t be voting for (Question 6).”

Breton is running for public office because he is “tired of establishment politics,” he said. “I think we need more people in Augusta who will go up there and do the work that needs to be done and represent the people.”

One of the biggest problems facing the state and his constituents, according to Breton, is economic development.

“I think too many families not only in my district but statewide are barely able to make ends meet,” said Breton.

Breton said as a representative, he wants to cut taxes and regulations for small businesses so they can grow, develop more jobs and generate more revenue.

The state should also offer more vocational education services as “a way to get younger people to stay in Maine, and to help the economy,” he said.

When asked whether he would support legislative action against LePage following the voicemail left for Gattine in August, Breton said, “That’s something if the people of my district felt strongly about, certainly I could consider it. I’m elected to serve the people, and that’s what I want to do first and foremost.”

To combat high levels of opiate addiction in the state, Breton said, the Legislature should tighten the budget in some areas, such as welfare, and reallocate the money toward resources to help with the addiction problem, he said. He said the money should be used to give more resources to rescue teams and police officers.

Breton said he is waiting for the third presidential debate to decide who he will vote in favor of for president. He said it is “very likely that I will be leaving that section blank on my ballot, because I do not feel as though any of the candidates running match my values and idea of integrity to lead this great nation.”

He will vote no on the legalization of marijuana because “the question is too vague in terms of how marijuana would be regulated,” he said. However, he would be open to discussing how the drug could be legalized and properly regulated, he said.

He is in favor of Question 2 because “I think it’s important to give our children the best education possible,” he said.

Breton said he will vote no to background checks for private gun sales because the yes campaign has received a lot of funds from out-of-state interests. “If this is something that is ever passed, it needs to be brought up and pushed through by Maine citizens,” he said.

He will vote against raising the minimum wage, Question 4, because “a lot of business owners in my district have said it would really hurt their ability to grow,” he said.

Breton will vote in favor of rank-choice-voting, he said, because it will open up the playing field for third-party candidates.

He will vote in favor of $100 million bonds for road projects because “I think we need to have better infrastructure statewide,” he said.

Ellie Espling 

Elijah Breton