{"id":2480,"date":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/newell-b-graf-jr\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T14:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T14:30:59","slug":"newell-b-graf-jr","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/newell-b-graf-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Newell B. Graf Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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President of the board, Somerset Humane Society in Skowhegan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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High school diploma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing legal education in the construction field and training in the Maine Municipal Association and Maine County Commissioners Association<\/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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I was a Skowhegan Select Board member from 2008 to 2014 and served two years on the Somerset County budget committee. I was a Somerset County commissioner from 2014 to 2022; I was vice chair my first year and then chair for the remaining seven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my previous tenure on the select board, our long-term planning on the sewer overflow project saved taxpayers\u2019 money. During my tenure as county commissioner, we kept the budget down to an approximately 2% increase per year while still looking ahead to complete projects and fairly compensate employees. We paid off the jail eight years early and saved the taxpayers eight years of payments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1) Accountability to the taxpayers <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Long-term financial planning in order to minimize annual increases to taxes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Provide affordable services.<\/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 have always been civic minded. I made a positive difference in the years I held office, and I\u2019m going to take a close look at town operations to see if we are running at maximum efficiency. My main goal is to look out for the taxpayers and take a close look where we may be able to save money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your community? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Biggest challenge: I won\u2019t promise things I don\u2019t know enough about yet, like lowering taxes. But I do promise to look at the whole operation, speak with the public and town employees in order to make common sense decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biggest opportunity: To have a positive impact on town operations for all the citizens of Skowhegan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how your community functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I cannot answer that right now. If I get elected, I will look at the whole operation and see what can be improved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Do you support more development in your community? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would love to see the second bridge come to fruition. I would also like to see more affordable housing and the jobs to support it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2652,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Newell","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"B.","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Graf","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"Jr.","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2478,"voter_guide_candidate_age":70,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Construction superintendent of 53 years, now retired","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":"61 years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1mF3Ab8IAKDHTNSl4R-krGQ5Bq4sMqxn2","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[818],"vg_residence_municipality":[602],"class_list":["post-2480","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-unenrolled","vg_residence_municipality-skowhegan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2480","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\/2480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3420,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2480\/revisions\/3420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=2480"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=2480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}