ALFRED – Incumbent Republican Heidi Sampson beat her Democratic challenger Kelcy McNamara and Green Independent challenger Justin Reinhardt for the Maine House District 21 seat in Tuesday’s election.

The vote in the district, which includes Alfred, Newfield and part of Limerick, Parsonsfield and Shapleigh, was 2,295 to 1,696 to 367.

Sampson has been in office since 2016, when she beat Aaron Carroll.

In a pre-election email survey, Sampson explained the ongoing gun control debate and what should be done about it here in Maine, “The key component that must take center stage is the increasing mental health troubles with students. We need to be far more pro-active on this issue.”

Sampson has taken action on the issue by meeting with school resource officers over the last four months to discuss school safety concerns.

“Students with mental health problems can be identified at an early age. This is where our attentions should be focused. Policies need to be generated that will ensure proactive and effective procedures. We have resources in the state which should be networked into the school mental health plans. Weapons, not just guns will be misused by those with mental health issues,” said Sampson.

Sampson also addressed the rising costs of health care in Maine.

“We first must consider what mechanisms cause an increase to health care costs and then implement those mechanisms which have been proven to decrease, not to increase the cost of health care,” said Sampson.

One of the solutions Sampson believes in is opening up the insurance market.

“Opening up the insurance market to allow people to shop for the plan that best suits their needs will create competition in turn forcing the insurance companies to provide increasingly better service at competitive prices. Maine had just such a plan and it was clearly demonstrated the right path to affordable health care. PL90 verified a significant decrease in the cost of health insurance. It allowed for the purchase of health care insurance across state lines and businesses were encouraged by the improved services for their employees,” said Sampson.

When it comes to luring high-paying jobs to Maine, Sampson believes it should be about attracting big companies to Maine.

“First of all, luring implies deception or entrapment — this is certainly not the way to encourage good business practices. We want to attract, encourage and support businesses,” said Sampson.

Sampson has a long list of all the way she plans to attract young workers to Maine.

“We need to start with state government being financially responsible, lower taxes and energy costs, increase the availability of people who have marketable skills for employers, reduce business regulations and improve the climate for businesses to get started, to attract businesses to come to Maine and to help those who are in Maine to thrive. We need schools to educate students with strong academic skills, including CTE and stop focusing on social/emotional learning targets, access to high speed internet throughout the state, continue to increase and improve University/Community College partnerships and access creative capital investments which can include loan programs through FAME,” said Sampson.

Sampson is confident that she is the right person to represent Alfred, Newfield and part of Limerick, Parsonsfield and Shapleigh.

“I have a proven track record of strong bipartisan efforts as most recently demonstrated by the clear majority of both houses supporting an education bill returning control back to the local districts. Additionally, I have been continuously involved and proactive with my constituents and their needs,” said Sampson.

After accomplishing a large amount in her first term, Sampson is sure to be proactive in her second term.

“I have had the opportunity to mediate troublesome bureaucratic issues for individuals and businesses with complicated hurdles involving state regulatory challenges. These difficult encounters have been shepherded to successful conclusions. I have also conducted hours of independent research (beyond the walls of the State House) regarding numerous pertinent information directly impacting my constituents. One example, most recently, is my focus on school safety concerns, gathering much needed information for potential thoughtful policy,” said Sampson.

— Staff Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at [email protected] or at 780-9018.