I am deeply grateful for the confidence placed in me by all those who voted for me in the Senate District 23 race. I am particularly honored and humbled by the 36 percent of the electorate who saw fit to vote for me in my beloved town of Richmond, and by the 23 percent and 17 percent who voted for me in my neighboring towns of Dresden and Bowdoinham respectively.

My interactions with the people of this area during the campaign did nothing to diminish my faith in the core decency and common sense of my fellow citizens. I was further encouraged in my hopes for Maine by my participation in the three candidate forums to which I was invited, as listening to the participants made clear to me that every candidate who ran cares deeply about Maine and is motivated to try to make a positive difference for our state and communities. I remain grateful to the forum sponsors and to the citizens who attended for demonstrating that the civic pulse is alive and well in Maine, as further evidenced by the voter turnout.

It was a pleasure to meet my worthy opponents in the senate race, departing incumbent Eloise Vitelli and our soon to be new senator Linda Baker. I believe Eloise served us well, and believe Linda will do the same.

I ran as a Green Independent as I believe partisan politics gets the better of all the good will brought to the table by individual legislators, notwithstanding their sincere desire to work together for the betterment of our state. The debate quickly gets polarized and the facts go out the window as the parties jockey for political advantage. Instead of win-win solutions to problems, we are too often left with winners and losers. Maine can and must do better if we are all to prosper while preserving what makes this such a special place.

Alice Kanpp
Richmond