Lyndon State Senior Justin Chenette Elected State Rep. in Maine
Lyndon State Senior Justin Chenette Elected State Rep. in Maine
LYNDON SENIOR NOW YOUNGEST STATE LEGISLATOR IN THE NATION
November 7, 2012
Justin Chenette won his race for State Representative in his home town of Saco, Maine, on November 6, capturing 60 percent of the vote. The 21 year old Television Studies senior will be the youngest legislator in this upcoming legislative session. Chenette is also the youngest openly gay state legislator in the nation. He will graduate from LSC in December-just weeks before taking office.
Between 2007 and 2011, Chenette served as an ambassador and public relations director for Hugh O’ Brian Youth Leadership and earned a Presidential Service Award from President Barack Obama in 2008.
During then Senator Barack Obama’s successful run for President, he served the Maine Democratic Party as a youth organizer. On the local level, Chenette worked with Saco officials across multiple departments as a communications intern and as a social networking committee member throughout 2010. In 2011, Chenette joined the Journal Tribune, Portland Daily Sun, and Valley Voice as a political columnist to provide insight and analysis to the political headlines of the day.
In May 2012, he represented York County as a delegate to the Maine Democratic State Convention. There, he was elected as an At-Large Delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention and was the youngest of the 37 delegates from Maine.
Chenette took a leave of absence from his job as the Assistant Morning Producer for Fox 23’s Good Day Maine to run for office. He is currently a member of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce, Saco Spirit Board of Directors, Saco Bikes for Kids Organizer, Saco 250th Committee, Maine Successful Thinkers, Society of Professional Journalists, Vice President of Social Media at Rocky Coast Marketing, Communications Director for Friends of Stackpole Bridge, and is on the Saco Harvest/Pumpkin Festival Committee.
He saw the greatest challenge in this year’s election was “capturing the energy of four years ago. It’s important to get involved in the process. I want to reaffirm to young people why voting is important. We need to fight the apathy.”