Chellie Pingree

Chellie Marie Pingree (born Rochelle Marie Johnson; April 2, 1955) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for ME's 1st congressional district since 2009.

Her district includes most of the southern part of the state, including Portland and Augusta.

Pingree held various farming and care-taking jobs until 1981, when she started North Island Yarn, a cottage industry of hand knitters with a retail store on North Haven.

Her business expanded and became North Island Designs, employing as many as ten workers.

They began marketing knitting kits and pattern books nationwide through 1,200 retail stores and 100,000 mail-order catalogues.

Through North Island Designs, Pingree authored and produced five knitting books between 1986 and 1992.

A member of the Democratic Party, Pingree was a member of the Maine Senate from 1992 to 2000, serving as majority leader for her last four years.

Pingree was first elected in 1992.

She was outspoken against going to war against Iraq, although counseled by party insiders to avoid that subject.

She was reelected in 1994 and 1996.

She was elected Maine's second female majority leader in 1996.

During her tenure as a state legislator, Pingree made nationwide headlines when she authored the nation's first bill regulating prescription drug prices, Maine Rx.

She also shepherded Maine's largest land-bill initiative, Land for Maine's Future.

Eisenhower Fellowships selected her as a USA Eisenhower Fellow in 1997.

As the leader of Common Cause, Pingree was active in the organization's programs in media reform, elections, ethics, and money in politics.

She supported net neutrality, mandatory voter-verified paper ballots, public financing of congressional elections, national popular vote (a workaround for the Electoral College), and an independent ethics commission for Congress.

In 2000, she was unable to seek reelection due to term limits.

Pingree represented Knox County in the Maine Senate.

She ran for the United States Senate in 2002, losing to incumbent Republican Susan Collins.

In 2002, Pingree ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican junior U.S. Senator Susan Collins.

Collins, a popular moderate incumbent, won by a margin of 17%.

From 2003 until 2006, she was president and CEO of Common Cause.

She is the first Democratic woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine.

Pingree was born Rochelle Marie Johnson, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Harry and Dorothy Johnson.

She moved to Maine as a teenager and had her first name legally changed to Chellie.

She attended the University of Southern Maine and graduated from College of the Atlantic with a degree in human ecology.

Since graduating from College of the Atlantic, she has resided on North Haven, a small island community off the coast of Rockland.

She stepped down from Common Cause in February 2007 to return to her home state and run for Congress in 2008.

In April 2007, Pingree filed papers for her bid to run for Maine's 1st congressional district.

On August 15, 2007, EMILY's List endorsed Pingree for Congress.

In December 2007, she was endorsed by 21st Century Democrats.

She was endorsed by a number of labor organizations and many individuals and state officials, including Congressman Rush D. Holt Jr.; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky; Maine Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell; former Maine Senate Assistant Majority Leader Anne Rand; State Representative Paulette Beaudoin; progressive writer and activist Jim Hightower; the United Auto Workers; Planned Parenthood, and the League of Conservation Voters.

Pingree was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2008.

She overcame strong anti-Democrat and anti-incumbent political sentiment to become just one of eight House Democrats to receive a higher percentage of the vote than in 2008.

She was sworn in on January 6, 2009.

Pingree was reelected in 2010, defeating Republican nominee Dean Scontras by a 57–43 margin.

On February 29, 2012, an Associated Press story mentioned that Pingree was starting to circulate petitions to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Olympia Snowe, which she confirmed on The Rachel Maddow Show later that night.

She withdrew her name from the race on March 7 and was reelected to the House.

In 2016, Pingree defeated Republican nominee Mark Holbrook by around 16 points.

In late 2017, Pingree's name was mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for governor of Maine, to succeed term-limited incumbent Paul LePage.