Although the election is a little less than a year away, Brunswick at-large Town Councilor Dan Ankeles has already announced Tuesday that he will run for the Maine House of Representatives.

Brunswick Town Councilor Dan Ankeles is seeking the nomination to succeed Ralph Tucker. Photo courtesy of Michele Stapleton.

Ankeles will be seeking the Democratic nomination to run in House District 100, an area of central Brunswick stretching from greater downtown to neighborhoods east of Stanwood and north of McKeen streets, Bowdoin College, the Jordan Avenue neighborhoods, Brunswick Landing, Pennellville, neighborhoods along the east side of Maine Street and Mere Point Road and most of the Mere Point Peninsula.

According to Ankeles’s announcement, House District 100 was drawn earlier this fall in a redistricting effort required by the state constitution every 10 years. The district will contain most of the area now represented by Democrat Rep. Ralph Tucker, who is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.

Local issues Ankeles hopes to address in the Legislature include, according to the announcement, “the clean-up and restoration of the stormwater system on the former Naval air base, the lack of an affordable range of housing options, the disproportionate pressure the property tax burden places on working families and seniors on fixed incomes, the continued success of our working waterfront, strains on direct care and behavioral health services and the lack of local control over speed limits in residential neighborhoods.”

Ankeles served as a legislative aide for Democratic lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives for nine years before departing to become a candidate. Three local Maine Democratic legislators have endorsed Ankeles, according to the announcement: Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry of Brunswick, Rep. Jay McCreight, who represents northeastern Brunswick, West Bath and Harpswell and Rep. Poppy Arford, who represents western Brunswick.

“Dan will be there on housing, on health care, on reproductive justice, on our climate crisis and so much more,” Arford said in the release

On the Brunswick Town Council, Ankeles chaired the Finance Committee and was a member of the Appointments Committee, Tree Committee and Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee. He has also served on the Police Review Committee and the Simpson’s Point Citizens Advisory Commission.

“Before working at the State House, Ankeles ran state legislative campaigns and successfully defended Mainers’ voting rights by organizing for the people’s veto referendum campaign to protect the ability to register to vote on Election Day,” the announcement states. “He previously produced a public affairs call-in program for New Hampshire Public Radio and earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Chicago.”

Ankeles, 40, is married to Catherine Fredricks, a physician at Mid Coast Medical Group in Bath. They have two children. Ankeles has lived in Brunswick since 2011.

“Brunswick is our home, and I’m running so that all of us in this community — and in our entire state — can succeed in a world that has thrown us more than our fair share of challenges,” said Ankeles. “We need to deliver on climate, health care, housing people can actually afford, a fairer tax code and a modern economy that gives Maine’s young people of all backgrounds a chance to build a life here. We also need a state representative with a track record of listening to constituents, transparency, frequent communication and getting things done.”

The primary election will take place Tuesday, June 14, 2022, and the general election will take place Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.