{"id":12323,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/matthew-d-agren\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:48","slug":"matthew-d-agren","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/matthew-d-agren\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew D. Agren"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I ran once in 2023 for the At Large Seat on the School Committee and won 4 city wards but lost by less than 680 votes citywide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I believe we need to improve public safety, understanding that there are going to be costs and it is not just one easy step that is going to magically change the path we are on. Economic Development \u2014 we need to help more businesses come to Lewiston. Also, we need to bring more accountability and transparency to how the city government runs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I want to help bring a positive change to Lewiston for all, because we are all One Lewiston. Let me be honest, we need a change from the policies that have gotten us where we are now. I am not claiming to have all the answers but am willing to listen to anyone with ideas and hopefully come to the answer to the problems that we are facing.<\/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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Right now our biggest challenge is the youth violence our city is facing. We need to get this under control, this problem is not unique to Lewiston. We need to look to see where we can get help or ideas from those who have already solved their issues. Our people are our biggest opportunity to move forward.<\/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 like the citizens and taxpayers of Lewiston to feel that when they speak or write to councilors people are listening. We need to restore trust in the local government, and make it feel like decisions are not made behind closed doors but in open meetings. That is why transparency and accountability matters to me.<\/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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We need to bring more business to Lewiston for economic development, not just big companies. I would rather see five 20-person firms come than one 100-person firm. My reasoning is if we lose one business, it is less of a hit to the employment in the city. We have been building housing for people, but we have not been providing employment options for the people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7221,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Matthew","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"D.","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Agren","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12319,"voter_guide_candidate_age":55,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Kitchen Supervisor at Governors' Restaurant here in Lewiston","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"I have lived, raised my family and worked in Lewiston for over 28 years. I\u2019m a foster guardian with a senior now at USM and the son and husband of teachers.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Degrees in Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts from SMTC","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1CEB-2CsMK2MC-k3Re-JUCsD4_ut3Bpu_","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[466],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12323","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-independent"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12323","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\/12323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12324,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12323\/revisions\/12324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12323"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}