Jill Duson | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Maine Senate from the 28th district | |
| Assumed office December 7, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Heather Sanborn |
| Mayor of Portland | |
| In office December 2008 –December 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Suslovic |
| Succeeded by | Nick Mavodones Jr. |
| In office December 2004 –December 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Nathan Smith |
| Succeeded by | James I. Cohen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jill C. Duson [1] 1953 (age 71–72) Chester,Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Divorced |
| Children | Two |
| Residence | Portland,Maine |
| Occupation | Attorney,Lobbyist,Retail |
Jill C. Duson (born 1953) is an American lawyer,lobbyist,and politician from Portland,Maine.
Duson has served on both the Portland School Board [2] and the Portland,Maine City Council since 2001. In 2004,Duson became the first African-American mayor of Maine's largest city and the first African-American woman mayor in the state when she was elected by her fellow council members to chair meetings under the city's then council-manager system. [3]
In 2011,Duson ran for the newly created position of mayor. Rep. Anne Haskell was her campaign manager. [4] She finished in sixth place out of fifteen candidates on the ballot.
In 2012,Duson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and a Democratic elector in the general election. [5] She was a supporter of President Barack Obama. [6]
In June 2016,Duson ran for the Democratic nomination for State Senate in her district. She lost to Representative and former sheriff Mark Dion. [7]
In November 2017,Duson was re-elected for the fifth time over two challengers. [8] Soon thereafter,she declared her intent to seek the nomination for State Senate in the 2018 election after Dion announced his intention to run for governor. [9] In June,Duson received approximately 41% of the votes in the Democratic primary and lost to Rep. Heather Sanborn. [10] She did not seek re-election in 2020. She was elected to the Maine Senate in 2022,becoming the first Black woman to serve as a state senator in Maine's history. [11]
In April 2015,Duson led the charge to reduce the city's minimum wage to $8.75 an hour from the proposed $10.10 per hour proposed by Mayor Michael F. Brennan. Duson's proposal passed the city's Finance Committee before being rejected by the City Council in favor of the original proposal. [12]
Duson grew up impoverished in Chester,Pennsylvania. Her mother was part of a rent strike when she was a child. However,she earned a B.A. from Antioch College,a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School,and a Certificate in Senior Executive in State &Local Government from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. [4]
Duson has dealt with financial troubles,including potential foreclosure on her home in Portland's North Deering neighborhood. According to court records,she "had about $73 in the bank" at the time of her 2012 bankruptcy. In 2017,Duson was still fighting to avoid foreclosure. [13]
Outside of elected office,Duson has worked as a lobbyist for Central Maine Power, [2] Director of Bureau of Rehabilitation Services,Maine Department of Labor,compliance director for the Maine Human Rights Commission as well as in retail with L.L.Bean. [5]