{"id":12269,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/ricky-lachapelle\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T14:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:42:05","slug":"ricky-lachapelle","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/ricky-lachapelle\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky LaChapelle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Previously served one term on Lewiston City Council and one term on Lewiston School Committee. Unsuccessfully sought Maine Senate District 21 seat in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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First, making Lewiston safer by strengthening public safety and supporting the police and first responders. Second, aggressively recruiting new businesses by revamping our codes to make it easier to do business. Third, freeze property taxes in 2027 at the same level as 2026, then review the recent citywide evaluation to ensure everyone that uses our services is paying their fair share.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I am running because Lewiston has a leadership problem. Our current mayor has failed to provide the strong, decisive leadership our city needs, while a fractured City Council spends too much time fighting and too little time moving Lewiston forward. We need leadership that will make our city safer, aggressively pursue new businesses and jobs, and address out-of-control property taxes. I know Lewiston, I know business and I know how to lead. Our city deserves better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Our biggest challenge is youth violence and the negative image it has created for Lewiston. When people hear about our city, too often they hear about crime, violence and division. Our biggest opportunity is to change that narrative. With strong leadership, we can make Lewiston safer, attract new businesses and investment, and restore pride in our community. I want people inside and outside Lewiston to see a city that is safe, vibrant, growing and worth investing in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would change the way we operate our entire city government. We cannot keep doing things the same way we have for the last 100 years. I want us to think outside the box, use technology, listen to the great minds within our city, and challenge every department to do better. We also need to take a hard look at how our tax burden is shared. Everyone should pay their fair share. We can and must do better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Absolutely, Lewiston needs more marketplace housing and business development, and we need to make it easier, not harder, to build here. As a city councilor, I led the effort to change more than 1,000 codes to make Lewiston more user-friendly for residents and business. We need to revisit our codes, remove unnecessary barriers and create a more business-friendly environment. Responsible development will create jobs, expand our tax base, provide housing and strengthen Lewiston\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12864,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Ricky","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Roger","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"LaChapelle","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12267,"voter_guide_candidate_age":62,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Landlord, real estate developer, collateral lender","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Past vice chair, Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission. Past chair, Lewiston Bicentennial Commission. Worked with Lewiston Board of Appeals, South Lewiston Little League, Lewiston-Auburn Youth Soccer, Lewiston Citizens Advisory Committee and Lewiston Housing Advisory Committee.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Lewiston High School graduate, Gemological Institute of America for Diamonds and Grading","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1CZhyR0J5_0blxWboQQ-JrFxKmJ-jo0k-","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[564],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12269","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-republican"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12269","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\/12269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12270,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12269\/revisions\/12270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12269"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}