FARMINGTON — Lance Harvell feels it would be an honor to be chosen to represent District 113 in the state legislature again.

Harvell served three terms in the House of Representatives for Farmington and Industry before deciding to not seek re-election in 2014 to the new District 113 towns of Farmington and New Sharon.

He wanted more time to spend with his family but his passion for serving did not diminish.

Last fall, his successor Republican Andrew Buckland went to him and asked him to run again. Buckland had decided to not seek re-election, he said. After thinking it over and discussing it with his family, Harvell decided to go ahead.

“It has been a little hard to sit on the sidelines and see the fiasco unfold this last session,” he said. “As I get older, I have no use for gesture politics. It should be about how to work together for the best outcomes for the people of the state.”

Gesture politics is a campaign with no real solution presented in it. It is just a gesture, he said.

Energy is still a huge issue that Harvell wants to help tackle. The conservative Republican also feels government should have limits on how it spends. 

“The taxpayer is the least represented group in Augusta,” he said. “It is an honor to be a steward of taxpayer’s money.”

The timing to run is also better for Harvell now than in 2014.

His family is supportive of the decision, he said. In December, his employment with Verso in Jay was severed.

“It came at a good time in my life,” he said. “Everyone’s life is different. This (for me) is a change and an opportunity to do something else.”

Harvell is using the opportunity to finish a degree in history and political science at the University of Maine at Farmington. He’s been working on the degree off and on for 20 years. When the school tallied his records, he found he only needed two semesters to finish the work, he said.

Besides, shift work was getting a little harder on him. Being fairly conservative, he is finding the change do-able, he said.

Harvell is encouraged by the response so far as he has sought signatures for his campaign. People have all been very positive, not a negative comment, he said. He also never lost any of his attempts to run for the seat.

“It is an honor to be chosen for this,” he said. “I’ve never taken it lightly. When you look back over the 200-plus year history of Farmington only about 30-40 people have done this. Being born and raised here… this is a real honor.”

Harvell sees the work in Augusta as one of compromise with other legislators. You can always find something to agree on – no human being is all one thing or another, he said.

His role is to represent the concerns, the things that matter to the people in the district, he said.

For more information, Harvell has a campaign Facebook page or he can be reached by phone at 491-8781 or email, lanceharvell@hotmail.com

abryant@sunmediagroup.net

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