{"id":1583,"date":"2026-04-30T22:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voterguide.local\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:45:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:45:52","slug":"william-j-st-michel-sr-98","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/william-j-st-michel-sr-98\/","title":{"rendered":"William J St. Michel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Served on the fire service for over 50 years and was Durham fire chief for 25 years. Previous owner of a small plumbing company, and married for 54 years, raised our family in Durham.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Freeport High School<\/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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None.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Our state is beautiful. It’s so geographically diverse, and everything we could ever want. I want to help make our state what it was and what it could be once again. We need to stop fraud and work together. We need to reduce taxes, stop government overreach and create a business-friendly environment. With supporting strong family values and repairing our educational system, creating an economic environment that keeps our families strong and here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We need to stop corruption and fraud and be sure to have systems in place that will never allow it to happen again. We need to reduce our taxes, which we are in the top 10 for taxes in the country. We need to create a business-friendly environment. Our current regulatory system makes it difficult for small businesses to start and survive.<\/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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I feel that Augusta currently feels more regulation and taxes is the road to improving things in our state. During the 132nd Legislature, legislators submitted over 2,000 bills, and they signed over 500 into law. Less government oversight and lower taxes are the path we should be taking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing Maine? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I feel our biggest challenge is creating a business-friendly environment, one that maintains our state\u2019s beauty and diversity but allows and encourages small businesses to flourish. Until we fix our business climate, our children will continue to have to go elsewhere. Our biggest opportunity is the geographic and economic diversity of our state, a state full of entrepreneurs waiting for an opportunity to flourish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As one of several dozen legislators in your chamber, how would you make a measurable difference for your constituents?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would speak and vote for them. A legislator’s job is to stand and speak on behalf of their constituents by seeking input and carrying it to Augusta. That in itself, successful or not, is a measurable improvement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1953,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"William","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"J","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"St. Michel","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2284,"voter_guide_candidate_age":70,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired\/Part-time executive director for Maine Fire Chiefs Association","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":57,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"57 years in Durham","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1rEQ_M2uJiZraEMRlyHlNSPcEF2PFoWf0","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"1\/9\/2026","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[564],"vg_residence_municipality":[425],"class_list":["post-1583","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-republican","vg_residence_municipality-durham"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1583","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":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1583\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}