{"id":11889,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/pamela-jo-swift\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:43","slug":"pamela-jo-swift","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/pamela-jo-swift\/","title":{"rendered":"Pamela Jo Swift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Elected to Palermo Selectboard in 2019, 2022, and 2025, ran and lost for state Representative in District 62 in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Broadly, my top 3 priorities are healthcare, agriculture, and the environment.\nSpecifically, I support Medicare for all, lower-cost medications, full reproductive rights, protecting small family farms, and mitigating climate change. All of this must be done with the goal of increasing affordability for Mainers. Money in people\u2019s pockets, not in politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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With the current climate of political divisiveness, it is imperative we have reasonable people in all levels of our government. We must elect people who can work well with others, get the work done and make life better for all of us.\nCurrently, we\u2019re not only losing our rights, but we\u2019re perilously close to losing our democracy. I want to fight for our rights, and our democracy, then create a government that raises us all.<\/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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One way that Maine is on the right track is by having the Legislature and the governor finally pass legislation that honors the voter-approved referendum that requires the state to fund 55% of our public schools.\nOne way our state is on the wrong track is by continuing to saddle everyday Mainers with too-high real estate taxes. Our state government should be making the wealthy pay their fair share.<\/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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As one of several dozen legislators, I would work diligently to create bills that would make life better for all Mainers. With initiatives that are good for us all, it should be easy to find co-sponsors and bipartisan support. Actually passing legislation with strong support amongst my colleagues that makes life better for all Mainers will necessarily make a measurable difference to my constituents.<\/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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To address Maine voters\u2019 economic anxieties, I would propose a multipronged approach that would include Medicare for all, lowering the cost of medications, a wealth tax aimed at reducing the real estate taxes for everyday Mainers, universal child care, and a law to prevent price gouging. When giant corporations report record-high profits without lowering their consumer prices, that means they\u2019re funneling their price-gouging profits to their shareholders and CEO bonuses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Pamela","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Jo","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Swift","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"No answer","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":11888,"voter_guide_candidate_age":64,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired physician, retired farmer","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"As a doctor I support Medicare for All and lower cost medications. Farming showed me the importance of stewarding our land and the life it supports. My perspective will help me improve Mainers\u2019 lives.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Bachelor's degree in animal science from Virginia Tech, Doctor of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1YKdFcCF1smycmxCQ16O21ixyxffjxeZR","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-11889","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11889","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\/11889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11890,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11889\/revisions\/11890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=11889"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=11889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}