{"id":12426,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/stefanie-veneziano\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T14:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:37:16","slug":"stefanie-veneziano","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/stefanie-veneziano\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefanie Veneziano"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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First time running for office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1) Planning responsibly for the future so young families, people who work here, and local residents can afford to live here, with more housing options and infrastructure that meet our changing needs.\n\n2) Strengthening our community by supporting the local businesses and organizations that help our neighbors, bring people together, and contribute to Bath\u2019s success.\n\n3) Protecting Bath\u2019s unique identity and character while making room for new ideas that help our city reach its full potential.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bath is a great place to live in 2026, and I want to make sure we can say the same 20 years from now. We have an opportunity to steer our city toward further success, where young people can build their careers, families can build their lives, and Bath can build a reputation as one of the most thriving communities in Maine.<\/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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As it is across Maine, Bath is becoming increasingly expensive for average people to afford. Our biggest challenge is finding meaningful ways to use the tools the city has to address affordability when many of the forces driving costs are beyond our control. Our biggest opportunity is to build on Bath\u2019s strengths to attract good jobs and investment, grow our local economy, and make Bath an even more desirable place to live, work and raise a family.<\/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\u2019d like to see more interest and participation in city government. All four City Council seats on the ballot this year are uncontested, which I think is a missed opportunity for real dialogue. Decisions made at City Hall directly impact our everyday lives, and I\u2019d like to see more people follow what\u2019s happening, share their views, and ultimately consider stepping up to serve and bring their own experiences to the table.<\/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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Yes, where it makes sense. Bath needs more affordable home ownership pathways for families and working people, and an environment that supports local businesses. But I\u2019m more interested in development that improves our quality of life than growth for growth\u2019s sake. Any new development should fill a real gap, make use of our existing infrastructure, and contribute something positive to Bath and the people who live here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10906,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Stephanie","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Marie","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Veneziano","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12424,"voter_guide_candidate_age":37,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Digital communications strategist","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Born and raised in Maine, my path has taken me from working in Augusta to more than a decade abroad and a career in digital communications. I returned home in 2025 and chose to live in Bath.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Bachelor's in international affairs\/political science, University of Maine","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=10g7ael4whTrDO_kN6n4RxzUybciQMFUu","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1186],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12426","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-non-partisan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12426","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12856,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12426\/revisions\/12856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12426"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}