| Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 1820 |
| First holder | Benjamin Ames |
The Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives is the speaker and presiding officer of the Maine House of Representatives, the lower house of the Maine Legislature.
Thomas Brackett Reed Jr. was an American attorney and Republican Party politician from Maine who served as the 32nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for three nonconsecutive terms from 1889 to 1891 and 1895 to 1899. His first term was marked by a dramatic expansion of the Speaker's formal authority through changes to the House Rules, and he remains one of the most powerful Speakers in House history.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. The House of Representatives convenes at the Massachusetts State House in Boston, the state capital of Massachusetts.
The 1954 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 84th United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 2, 1954, in the middle of Dwight Eisenhower's first presidential term, while Maine held theirs on September 13. Eisenhower's Republican Party lost eighteen seats in the House, giving the Democratic Party a majority that it would retain in every House election until 1994.
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via plurality voting. The nonvoting members represent three of Maine's Native American tribes, though two tribes have declined to send representatives. Each voting member of the House represents around 9,000 citizens of the state. Because it is a part-time position, members of the Maine House of Representatives usually have outside employment as well. Members are limited to four consecutive terms of two years each, but may run again after two years.
John G. Richardson was an American politician and consultant from Maine. A Democrat, he served as Maine's Commissioner of Economic and Community Development and the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. Richardson unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maine in 2010. In February 2018, the Portland Press Herald reported that Richardson was involved in a potential conflict of interest case regarding the University of Maine and a $100 million redevelopment plan for the nearby Old Town mill. On February 9, 2018 the Portland Press Herald reported that there weren't any conflict of interest issues involving UMaine or Richardson.
Glen Steven Rowe, known commonly as Steve Rowe, is a former Maine politician. A Democrat, he first entered politics in 1992 as a member of the Maine House of Representatives. In 1998, he became the 94th Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, serving until he was term-limited from the House in 2000. In 2001, Rowe was elected as the 54th Maine Attorney General, serving eight years in that position.
The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Maine:
Elizabeth H. Mitchell is an American politician from Maine. Mitchell, a Democrat, represented part of Kennebec County in the Maine Senate from 2004 to 2010. Mitchell was also the Democrats' 2010 candidate for the office of Governor of Maine. She finished in third place behind Republican Paul LePage and unenrolled attorney Eliot Cutler. She is the only woman in United States history to have been elected as both speaker of her state house of representatives and president of her state senate.
John L. Martin is an American politician of the Democratic Party. Martin has been in Maine politics since his first election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1964, and is sometimes called "The Earl of Eagle Lake" as a result. With his election in 2014, he is the longest serving legislator in Maine history.
Robert Nutting is a Republican politician from Maine who served six terms in the Maine House of Representatives. He re-joined the House after a two-year absence in 2008 and was elected speaker by the incoming Republican majority following the 2010 election, becoming the first Republican Maine House Speaker since 1974.
Michael V. Saxl is American lawyer and former politician from Maine. Saxl, who lived in Portland's West End, was a member of the Maine House of Representatives from the 117th – 120th legislatures (1995–2002). He was Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives from 2001–02. He is a Democrat.
Josiah S. Little was an American politician from Maine. Little was the 39th Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. He was speaker in 1841 both and 1856. In 1841, Little was elected as a Whig and as a Democrat in 1856. He was from Portland, Maine.
John F. Ward was an American politician from Maine. A Republican from Millinocket, Maine, Ward served three terms in the Maine House of Representatives (1942–1948) and three terms in the Maine Senate (1948–1954). He served two terms in the leadership of the Maine House, including as Majority Leader (1944–1946) and as Speaker (1946–1948). During Ward's final term in the Maine Senate, he served as president during the 1954 special session.
George D. Varney Sr. was an American politician from Maine. Varney, a Republican, served in the Maine Legislature from 1930 to 1932 and again from 1936 to 1948. Varney served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1930 to 1932 and from 1936 to 1942. During his final term, Varney served as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. He was elected to represent York County, Maine, including his residence in Kittery, Maine, in the Maine Senate from 1942 to 1948. He served as Senate President from 1945 to 1948.
Sara I. Gideon is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party from Freeport, she represented the 48th district in the Maine House of Representatives, which includes part of Freeport and Pownal in Cumberland County.
Ryan Michael Fecteau is the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. A Democrat, Fecteau serves Maine House District 11, consisting of a portion of Biddeford. At the time of his election as Speaker of the House in December 2020, Fecteau was both the youngest active state Speaker in the United States and the first openly gay person to serve as Speaker of the Maine House.
Rachel Talbot Ross is an American politician and activist. A Democrat from Portland, Talbot has been the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives since December 2022. When she was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2016, Talbot Ross became the first Black woman to serve in the Maine Legislature. Talbot Ross represents District 40, consisting of the Parkside, Bayside, East Bayside, and Oakdale neighborhoods of Portland as well as the University of Southern Maine campus. She became Maine's first African-American House Speaker, and the highest-ranking African-American politician in Maine history, when she was elected speaker on December 7, 2022.
Willis Allen Trafton Jr. was an American politician and lawyer from Maine. A Republican from Auburn, Maine, Trafton served in the Maine House of Representatives and was its Speaker from 1955 to 1956. He was a lawyer, with degrees from Yale University and Harvard University (1947). He also was the Republican nominee for Governor of Maine in the 1956 Maine gubernatorial election.
William Sands Silsby Sr. was an American politician and lawyer from Maine. A Republican from Aurora, Maine, Silsby served in the Maine House of Representatives and was its Speaker from 1951 to 1952. His father, grandfather and great grandfather all also served in the House, representing Aurora.
Oscar F. Fellows was an American attorney politician from Maine. A Republican from Bucksport, Fellows served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives. In his second term, he was elected Speaker.