{"id":11555,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/peter-southam\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:40","slug":"peter-southam","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/peter-southam\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Southam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bethel Select Board, lost, 2012; Bethel Select Board, won, 2013; Bethel Select Board, won, 2016; Bethel Select Board, won, 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1. Protect affordable housing either for rentals or purchase, so young families can afford to stay in Maine and older Mainers can afford to work and retire in Maine. 2. Ensure that Maine has doctors and medical facilities that meet the state's needs by developing a medical school, residency programs and teaching hospitals through the University of Maine system. 3. Maine\u2019s schools need to provide an excellent education to all students producing citizens and leaders who will keep our state strong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Last March I was up in my boom truck working on a metal roofing project when I got a\nphone call from Maddie Daughtry, the president of the Maine State Senate. She asked if\nI would be willing to meet to talk about the possibility of me running for the senate. I went\nhome that evening and discussed this with my wife. A day or two later, I met Maddie for\ncoffee in town and we talked about what was involved in being in the state legislature. It\nsounded interesting so I agreed to run.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What is one way Maine is on the right track? What is one way the state is on the wrong track?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I feel that Maine is on the right track because a great deal of control is in the hands of\ntowns and local government. Also, Mainers are still usually able to be civil to each other\nand help their neighbors even when they disagree on politics. I fear that Maine runs the\nrisk of taking on more debt than it can pay back in the future and that we really need to\nplan for the future for generations, not just a two-year legislative cycle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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As one of several dozen legislators in your chamber, how would you make a measurable difference for your constituents?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I can help my constituents by working together with other legislators of any party to\narrive at policies that will serve our whole population such as developing sustainable\nenergy systems. I also look forward to working with representatives of our state\u2019s largely\nrural senate districts to propose legislation that meets the needs of rural citizens. I will\nalso be seeking out collaboration with leaders who have districts with significant\nrecreational economies to help bolster those industries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Surveys show the economy is the top concern of voters. What is a specific proposal addressing Maine voters\u2019 economic anxieties that you\u2019d work to make law?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would like to increase the homestead property tax exemption to bring property tax relief\nto people who live in Maine year-round as their primary residence. This would serve to\nincrease the taxes of people who have second homes in Maine and thereby address\nsome of the income inequity seen in the State\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5092,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Peter","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"John","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Southam","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":11554,"voter_guide_candidate_age":61,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired Teacher","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"High school science teacher for 34 years. Founding board president and continuing board member of Inland Woods and Trails. Started Bethel Bicycle and owned until 2015.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"B.A. in biology Dartmouth College, 1987; MS in toxicology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993.","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=133rAqwf9Pts5bOf5vuUq0jUVkpaBxWDP","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-11555","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11556,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11555\/revisions\/11556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=11555"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=11555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}