{"id":1282,"date":"2026-04-30T21:09:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voterguide.local\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2026-05-24T14:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:17:14","slug":"garrett-paul-mason-gov","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/garrett-paul-mason-gov\/","title":{"rendered":"Garrett Paul Mason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Lifelong Mainer, husband, father, former Senate majority leader and business owner with a record of public service, leadership and creating jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2003 \u2013 High School, Calvary Christian Academy, Turner, ME; 2006 \u2013 B.S. Management & Marketing, Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola, FL; 2018 \u2013 Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola, FL<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2010 (W), 2012 (W), 2014 (W), 2016 (W) \u2013 State Senate; 2018 (L) \u2013 Governor (Republican Primary); 2022 (W), 2024 (W) – Androscoggin County Commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m running because Maine is getting harder to afford and harder to govern, and the next Republican governor will have a short window to make lasting change. We can\u2019t waste that opportunity on on-the-job training. I\u2019m the only candidate in this race with real experience in both business and government, and I\u2019ll be ready before day one to lead, make tough decisions and deliver results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Lowering costs, restoring safety and creating more opportunity for Maine families. That starts with cutting wasteful government spending, lowering taxes and energy costs, backing public safety and removing barriers to housing, job growth and workforce development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how Augusta functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When I first joined the Legislature in 2010 you could honestly say Augusta was different than Washington. In the past few years, that is no longer true. I\u2019d change the tenor of conversation to one where people could disagree without being disagreeable. I\u2019ve always believed you can stand firm on policy and still walk away with the ability to
communicate with those you disagree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is one policy area where you disagree with the consensus of most in your party?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m not running to fit neatly into anyone\u2019s political box. I\u2019m running to do what works for Maine. That means being grounded in conservative principles while staying practical and focused on results. If a policy helps lower costs, strengthen families, grow jobs and make government smaller and accountable, I\u2019m willing to lead on it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is one issue on which you\u2019d be willing to compromise with the other party\u2019s leaders in Augusta?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The budget is where leadership matters most. Democrats and Governor Mills made a choice to govern through one-party budgets and exclude half the state from major spending decisions. I\u2019d take a different approach and work for the broadest possible support, because Maine is better served when more voices are represented in how taxpayer dollars are spent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2028,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Garrett","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Paul","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Mason","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2148,"voter_guide_candidate_age":40,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Self-employed small business owner","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"40 years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=129v1fEB9xvw62_okYrV7nmLIL1cCoJwU","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"3\/4\/2026","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[564],"vg_residence_municipality":[497],"class_list":["post-1282","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-republican","vg_residence_municipality-lisbon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1282\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}