Justin Chenette
Justin Chenette in 2016
Member of the Maine Senate
from the 31st district
In office
December 7, 2016 – December 2, 2020
Preceded byLinda Valentino
Succeeded byDonna Bailey
Member of the Maine House of Representatives
from the 15th district
In office
December 2012 – December 2016
Preceded byLinda Valentino
Succeeded byMargaret M. O'Neil
Member of the
Maine State Board of Education
In office
2008–2009
Personal details
Born (1991-04-23) April 23, 1991
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseEduard Chenette
Residence(s)Saco, Maine, U.S.
OccupationEntrepreneur & Non-Profit Professional
Websitejustinchenette.com

Justin Chenette (born April 23, 1991) is an American politician from Maine. Chenette, a Democrat, formerly represented District 31 in the Maine Senate.[1] Chenette made history at age 21 becoming the youngest legislator in Maine, and was one of five openly gay members of the Maine Legislature.[2][3]

Chenette was also youngest openly gay legislator in the United States.[4] Owing to this, The Advocate magazine named Chenette "an architect of the next decade" and listed him among the 40 Under 40 most accomplished leaders throughout the country in 2013.[5]

Early life and education

Chenette was born in St. Albans, Vermont. He is the son of Jennifer Minthorn (née McIsaac) and Dr. Steven Mark Chenette. His father died in 2000 when Chenette was nine years old from complications of diabetes.[6] Chenette's stepfather was a Saco City Councilor, Alan Minthorn.[7]

Chenette graduated high school from Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine.[1] While in high school, Chenette was the station manager, executive producer, anchor, reporter, and host of Thornton Academy's TATV Channel 3, Saco's educational television station. TATV is one of the only student-run educational TV stations in the country. At the station, Chenette hosted a public affairs show he created, The Issue and produced three live election results shows. During his tenure as a TATV participant, he made special notice of the fact that he had medical procedures intervene with his normal male hormonal functions. Several of his peers recall instance of his declaration of castrate type behavior during high-school meetings of the televised program. His work was recognized by the Student Television Network by honoring Chenette as the 2009 Student Broadcast Journalist of the Year.[8]

Based on his media efforts in high school, Chenette was selected as a Gannett Journalism Scholar for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010.[9] After interning at WPFO FOX 23 in Portland, Maine in 2011, Chenette was offered a job created as the assistant morning producer of their news program, Good Day Maine. Chenette worked on developing new segments and booked various entertainment and informative guests for the show. He also updated FOX's website on the weekends as web producer.

Chenette took courses through the early studies program at the University College at Saco and at the University of Southern Maine.[10] He went to graduate a semester early from Lyndon State College with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting, Associate degree in TV news, and minors in political science and multimedia communications.[11]

In 2019, Chenette completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

Early career

In 2008, Governor John Baldacci appointed Chenette to the Maine State Board of Education making him the first student member in the history of the board at age 17.[12] In his 16-month term, Chenette pushed for civic engagement curriculum, a universal grading system, increased drug prevention, and to shore up the educational disparity between northern and southern Maine. Chenette served on the Student Voices Committee.[13]

In May 2012, Chenette was elected at the Maine State Democratic Convention as an at-large delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention down in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chenette was one of the youngest members of Maine's delegation to the DNC.[14]

Chenette served as an intern for Republican U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe prior to her retirement in 2012.[15]

Maine House of Representatives

2012 election

Chenette announced his first run for public office at the age 20, while he was still attending college, when the sitting State Representative Linda Valentino was termed out and seeking the State Senate seat.[16] He faced a Democratic challenger in the June Primary.

Chenette was elected in 2012 to the Maine House of Representatives after winning the Democratic primary for the seat against challenger Sonya Lundh-Gay with 78% of the vote,[17] and going on to win the general election over Republican challenger Roland Wyman with 60% of the vote.[18]

2014 election

Chenette was unopposed in his re-election to the newly redrawn district 15 in the June Primary. He went on to face Saco Republican Chairwoman Carol Patterson in the General Election replacing Republican candidate Frederick Fortier who dropped out of the race. There was controversy surrounding the transparency of his replacement in selecting Patterson.[19] In what many considered to be a wave election for Republicans, Chenette won re-election two percentage points higher than his previous election with 62% of the vote.[20]

Committee assignments and caucuses

  • Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee (2014–Present) [21]
  • State & Local Government Committee (2012-2014) [22]
  • Legislative Youth Caucus, Co-Chair (2012–Present) [23]

2020

On August 11, 2020, Chenette announced that he was withdrawing from the Senate District 31 race. Instead of running for re-election, Chenette in a release said he planned to empower the next generation of voters through the launch of a civics education organization called the Maine Democracy Project, would publish a full-length children’s book version of his state government coloring book The Great Whoopie Pie Debate, and would be working to help retain Democratic majorities in the Legislature.[24] However, in 2022, Chenette sought and won York County (ME) District 3 Commissioner seat.[25]

Electoral history

Maine Senate Primary Election 2016
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Justin Chenette 1,321 56%
Democratic Barry Hobbins 1,042 44%

[26]

Maine House of Representatives District 15 General Election 2014
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Justin Chenette 2,451 62%
Republican Carol Patterson 1,508 38%

[27]

Maine House of Representatives District 134 General Election 2012
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Justin Chenette 3,074 60%
Republican Roland Wyman 2,028 40%

[18]

Maine House of Representatives District 134 Primary Election 2012
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Justin Chenette 543 78%
Democratic Sonya Lundh-Gay 154 22%

[28]

Personal life

Chenette is married to Eduard Chenette, an environmental engineer.[29]

Chenette works at the Journal Tribune, a newspaper located in Biddeford, as their digital advertising executive. There he started two new initiatives, JT CARES, a nonprofit charitable arm of the paper, and JT MEDIA, a full-service marketing arm that provides a range of new media services to businesses.[30] In 2013, Chenette started his first small business, Chenette Media LLC, a multimedia public relations company based in Saco.[31] He previously worked at Rocky Coast Marketing, a full-service advertising and marketing firm, as vice-president of social media, specializing in web creation/management, media relations, and social media outreach.[32]

References

  1. 1 2 "District 31 - State Senator Justin Chenette (D - York) | Maine State Legislature". legislature.maine.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  2. ↑ alongside Reps. Andrew McLean (D–Gorham), Matt Moonen (D–Portland), Terry Morrison (D–South Portland) and Craig Hickman (D–Winthrop)
  3. ↑ "Gay Politics — Victory Fund celebrates huge night for gay candidates". www.gaypolitics.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Marnie Maclean (December 6, 2012). "Maine home to youngest, openly gay lawmaker in nation". NECN.
  5. ↑ Advocate Editors (April 17, 2013). "40 Under 40". {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  6. ↑ "Dr. Steven Chenette Obituary (1953 - 2000) - Winter Haven, FL - Legacy". Legacy.com.
  7. ↑ Staff report (17 November 2015). "Recount makes it official: Minthorn unseats Tardif in Saco". The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  8. ↑ "Thornton Academy grad on path to media prominence". Keep Me Current. April 1, 2010. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ "The Voter's Self Defense System". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  10. ↑ "Justin Chenette gains competitive edge through University College at Saco | Saco". learn.maine.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  11. ↑ "Lyndon State Senior Justin Chenette Elected State Rep. in Maine". Lyndon State College. November 7, 2012. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012.
  12. ↑ Maine Department of Education (July 23, 2019). "First student members of State Board of Education". Maine Gov.
  13. ↑ "Student Members". State of Maine.
  14. ↑ Democratic National Committee. "2012 Convention Delegates". Archived from the original on 2012-08-24.
  15. ↑ "Maine's youngest legislator old hand at social media". Keep Me Current. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  16. ↑ Kate Irish Collins (December 22, 2011). "Chenette to run for State House". Keep Me Current. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Biddeford, Saco, OOB Primary Elections Results". Keep Me Current. June 13, 2012. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013.
  18. 1 2 "Election Results". WGME 13. November 7, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Maine GOP Busted Rigging Recruitment Rules for State House Candidates". Maine Democratic Party. August 13, 2014. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Election Results 2014". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  21. ↑ "Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety". State of Maine. 2014.
  22. ↑ "Representative Justin M. Chenette". Maine House Democrats. 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-01-19. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  23. ↑ "Election 2014: Incumbent seeks second term in Saco". Courier Newspaper. October 23, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Chenette withdraws from SD 31 race". 11 August 2020.
  25. ↑ "Chenette wins York County Commission District 3 race". 15 June 2022.
  26. ↑ LIZ GOTTHELF (June 15, 2016). "Chenette snags nomination in Senate District 31". Journal Tribune. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  27. ↑ "2014 General Election results for Maine". Bangor Daily News. December 12, 2014. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  28. ↑ "House roundup House primary races". Portland Press Herald. 13 June 2012.
  29. ↑ "Sen. Justin Chenette". Maine Senate Democrats. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  30. ↑ "Advertise With Us | www.journaltribune.com | The Journal Tribune". www.journaltribune.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-01. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  31. ↑ "Chenette Media LLC". Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  32. ↑ "Vice President of Social Media". Rocky Coast Marketing. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30.
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