{"id":11757,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/nathan-burnett\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","slug":"nathan-burnett","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/nathan-burnett\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Burnett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

2018 – Maine House District 70, lost primary 2020 \u2013 Maine House District 70, lost general 2022 \u2013 Maine House District 82 (formerly 70, post 2020 census) lost general 2023-2025 \u2013 board of trustees for Maine Public Employees Retirement System<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

We are the oldest state in the nation, and people are not moving to our area. Older residents\ncannot right-size their living situations because the fiber internet connections required for today aren\u2019t here. Finishing the investment that started with the Three Ring Binder project must be a state-level priority. Last-mile service of all sorts has always had to be finished with government intervention. Separating healthcare from employment would also be an entrepreneurial opportunity for our state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

We have a citizen\u2019s legislature in Maine, and we\u2019re supposed to have people from all walks of life representing us in Augusta. There are lots of elected officials in Augusta telling teachers how to do our jobs that have no idea what our jobs entail. We need more voice in Augusta from people who work for a living.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

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
\n\n\n\n

Here in Maine, we have ranked-choice voting, we split our electoral college votes, and we have publicly funded campaigns through the Maine Clean Elections Act. These democratic reforms are things we need nationwide.\nWe could improve our state is by reducing how unpredictable education funding to\nmunicipalities is. We are the oldest state in the nation, by a standard deviation. People on a\nfixed income need predictability. Education costs are predictable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

As one of several dozen legislators in your chamber, how would you make a measurable difference for your constituents?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The number of doors I stop at where the voter says, \u201cYou\u2019re the first politician to knock on my door\u201d is always astounding. This is a job interview. If elected, I plan to hold office hours across the 13 towns in our senate district, and continue to make myself available to my constituents.\nThrough all my experiences with students, parents, school board members and my community, we\u2019ve had to work together to get ahead. We\u2019re a small state, and we\u2019ve got more in common than we have apart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

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
\n\n\n\n

As of mid-August, I\u2019ve knocked on over 3,600 doors this campaign season. Property taxes,\nhealthcare and affordability for the next generation getting started in Maine have been the\nissues I\u2019ve heard from voters, at door after door. Expanding the homestead exemption and\nmaking investments in our energy system are both key priorities for me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10908,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Nathan","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Robert Leigh","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Burnett","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"N\/A","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":11756,"voter_guide_candidate_age":40,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Teacher","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"I have taught math at Sacopee Valley High School for the past 13 years. I was born in Australia, moved to Maine at 14 to be closer to my mother\u2019s family, and have chosen to make a life here in rural Maine.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Graduated from Presque Isle High School (2003); bachelor's in economics from UMaine (2007); bachelor's in pure mathematics from USM (2024)","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1i-mVePrA0wbIV6HKmMOqXGMVU1yc9Rd1","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-11757","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\/11757","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\/11757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11758,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11757\/revisions\/11758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=11757"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=11757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}