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Justin Chenette made history in 2012 when, at just 21 years old, he became Maine's youngest lawmaker and the nation’s youngest openly gay legislator. He was sworn into office just a week before graduating from college. Since then, Justin has spent nearly a decade in public office.
He is a former 4-term Maine lawmaker having served 4 years in the Senate and 4 years in the House of Representatives. Justin’s public service career began in high school at age 17 when Governor John Baldacci appointed him to serve on the Maine State Board of Education, making history as the first student board member. In 2020, Justin was a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State. He currently serves as a Mayoral Appointee on the Saco Long-Range Planning Committee, working with city staff and the council to chart the city's future. |
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Justin is the president and founder of the Maine Democracy Project, which works to empower a new generation of voters, advocates, and leaders through civics education, voter registration, and electoral engagement efforts. Through that venture, he is a part of the national civics education coalition, CivXNow.
He is the author of a children’s book entitled The Great Whoopie Pie Debate, aimed at educating students about how their own government works. |
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In the Legislature, he chaired the bipartisan Government Oversight Committee, taking a leadership role holding agencies and department heads accountable to ensure effectiveness of programs and to safeguard taxpayer dollars.
He served on a number of committees including Senate Ethics, Environment & Natural Resources, Criminal Justice & Public Safety, Taxation, State & Local Government, Maine Climate Council’s Coastal & Marine Working Group, and founded the Democracy Reform Caucus and the Youth Caucus. He was also appointed by the Senate President as a Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commissioner, to advise on the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on existing laws, working conditions and businesses in Maine. Justin worked to pass successful legislation that reformed campaign finance laws to reduce money in politics, strengthened ethics limitations on lobbyist influence, tightened rules around political action committees, expanded Ranked Choice Voting, and put Maine on a path to implement automatic voter registration. |
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Justin previously ran a non-profit organization to advance arts education, connect Veterans to job training, help students afford college, and increase volunteerism. He continues this work through his family's nonprofit scholarship fund, providing college scholarships each year to graduating Maine high school students. Justin is the past president and current vice president of his community’s downtown revitalization organization, Saco Main Street, and is an avid volunteer through the Saco Bay Rotary.
Two sitting U.S. Presidents have honored his volunteer work as the recipient of the Volunteer Service Award; in 2008, by President Bush, and in 2016, by President Obama. He also received both the Governor’s Exemplary Service Award in 2009 and a Mayoral Certificate of Service for his leadership in the community in 2020. |
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Prior to legislative service, Justin got his start in journalism having been a TV anchor, producer, reporter, and columnist for various media outlets including WPXT, WPME, FOX 23, KATV, CTN, Biddeford Access, Caledonian-Record, Journal Tribune, Courier, Portland Daily Sun, and the Vermont Center for Community Journalism. He is best known in Saco for his role managing TATV Channel 3 and hosting his own statewide public affairs show, Youth in Politics, while in high school. He also served on the Society of Professional Journalists National Diversity Committee.
While in college, he was chosen to be a national delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, was a congressional intern for Republican U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, and interned at both Saco City Hall and Equality Maine. He re-established the statewide organization, Maine Young Democrats, serving as its president for two years and is a past state director of the Young Elected Officials Network. |
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After attending Saco public schools, he graduated high school from Thornton Academy while taking a full semester of college courses at the University of Southern Maine. Justin graduated from Northern Vermont University-Lyndon with a B.S. in Broadcast News. He was named the Outstanding Young Alumni in 2019. Justin also earned an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government after receiving a national fellowship. He is currently pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree in Public Administration from the University of Maine at Augusta.
In the private sector, Justin is the owner of a marketing firm and a real estate investment company. He lives in Saco with his husband Eduard, who works as an environmental engineer, an adjunct professor, and serves as a Saco River Corridor Commissioner. |
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