Name: Jonathan “Jon” Connor

Age: 47

Occupation: Retired Air Force veteran, president/owner AVB Logistics

Political experience: Former state representative to the Maine Legislature  from Lewiston

Why do you think you’re the most qualified, or best candidate for this seat? 

I feel I’ve consistently demonstrated my qualifications through actions, not words, as a military leader fostering growth, as a dedicated state representative, and as a small business owner emphasizing value. I believe I embody the qualities a mayor needs: tough decision-making, accountability, inclusivity and a genuine drive to improve lives.

Please name two issues that you believe are critical to Lewiston’s future, and how you would address them. Be specific. 

There’s one primary issue critical to Lewiston’s future — when residents and businesses no longer see value in Lewiston. When citizens don’t see value, they will leave, and others won’t move in. When businesses don’t see value, they will leave, and others won’t invest. Without new residents and new businesses to provide goods and services, we are a city in decline.

What does NOT provide value — rising crime without penalty, open-air drug use, addiction and mental health issues, homelessness, lack of housing for all socioeconomic classes, crumbling streets, outdated infrastructure and public safety equipment, and schools that lower their academic standards. These non-value-added issues will eventually cause people and businesses to leave Lewiston.

There’s good news however! We can grow Lewiston by helping our citizens and by attracting people and businesses through policies centered around providing value to them. That is what my focus will be, policies that go after criminals, drug dealers and enablers. Policies that attract the development of housing and help the homeless. Policies that shift our resources to where they will be best used and provide maximum value, and policies that require accountability — this is how we make Lewiston a desired city for residents and businesses!

What actions will you take to support businesses and grow the local economy?

What attracts businesses to a community? Businesses want to protect their investment; they won’t risk it in high-crime areas. They want a return on their investment, they won’t invest if a reasonable return can’t be realized. As mayor, my focus will be on eliminating crime and open-air drug use from our streets; putting more emphasis on our public services like police, fire, and public works; and easing the development process for more housing units. When our streets are safe, our housing is desirable, and our public services are top-notch, people and businesses will see the value in calling Lewiston home.

What else do you want voters to know about you?

I married my high school sweetheart at a young age … we will be celebrating our 29th anniversary this January. Our military service afforded us the opportunity to live in Italy, Honduras, South Korea, Alaska, Montana, California and South Carolina. We have three grown children and four granddaughters that keep us young!

Name: Luke D. Jensen

Age:  32

Occupation:  Substitute teacher

Political experience: Lewiston City Council, Lewiston School Committee, Lewiston Recycling and Waste Reduction Committee, Auburn-Lewiston Airport board of directors, Lewiston Public Schools Facilities Committee (chairperson), Lewiston Public Schools Administrative Subcommittee (chairperson), Lewiston High School Expansion and Improvements Subcommittee (original dhairperson), Historic Preservation Review Board (associate member), Lewiston Youth Advisory Council (adviser and chairperson).

Why do you think you’re the most qualified, or best candidate for this seat?

Quite frankly, I have more elective experience than all of my opponents combined. I’m the only candidate to have voted on school and city budgets, and the only one to have served on either a City Council or School Committee. No other candidate is better positioned to bring about change.

Please name two issues that you believe are critical to Lewiston’s future, and how you would address them. Be specific. 

Lewiston’s tax base is not growing enough to keep up with inflation and existing needs, and many city departments are currently running bare-boned. This results in terrible roads, overworked first responders, insufficiently maintained parks, underfunded schools, limited recreational offerings, and high taxes.

As mayor, I will prioritize growing the tax base by supporting small businesses and fighting for a fairer share from Augusta. During every city decision, I will ask officials to consider the impact to median household income, as well as to school enrollment numbers, street traffic, etc.

Lewiston continues to lose taxable land to nonprofits (like the hospitals) that benefit the region. I will work with officials in Augusta to find ways to replace that lost tax revenue, in addition to getting more school funding.

As a former public school teacher, I know that we need to improve our schools. I will work closely with the School Committee to boost our low graduation rate. I will also advocate for additional funding for The Store Next Door to help homeless students. School safety needs to improve, and we should aim to have police officers outside of each school at arrival and dismissal to help with that effort.

What actions will you take to support businesses and grow the local economy?

Lewiston has a lot of red tape for small business owners, and I will eliminate whatever we can to make us more business-friendly. When we have a higher median household income, not only will we see an increase in new businesses, but existing businesses will experience a boost in sales. I will also ensure there is better communication between city hall and business owners, and that issues get addressed. As mayor, I will lead a crackdown on lawlessness in the downtown, and ensure that anyone wishing to shop or play in our city will feel both safe and comfortable.

What else do you want voters to know about you? 

Lewiston residents want accountability, and that is what they will get when I am mayor. We need to help the homeless, but our current approach perpetuates drug addictions and lawlessness. Our police are hamstrung by Augusta, so I will work with state partners to bring law and order to Lewiston.

 

Name: Joshua James Pietrowicz

Age: 23

Occupation: Product and leasing specialist at Toyota

Political experience: Volunteer, phone banker for the Androscoggin County Republicans (2012, 2014, 2016), door knocker for Sen. Jeff Timberlake (2018), candidate (Compassionate Patriotic American Party) for the Maine State House of Representatives (2022).

Why do you think you’re the most qualified, or best candidate for this seat? 

I believe that my God-given ability to forge connections and relationships within our community, and outside our conventional sphere of influence, has the ability to bring Mainers together to achieve and promote common good amongst our community and our neighbors, which will instill patriotic values amongst future generations.

Please name two issues that you believe are critical to Lewiston’s future, and how you would address them. Be specific.

I believe that the two main issues Lewiston is facing are: affordable housing and a subpar image problem that affects our community, our children, and the well-being of our businesses. First off, rental prices are out of control. Prices are soaring, and wages cannot keep up with the rate of inflation. Lewiston and our City Council need to take initiative and greenlight as many developments as possible. By doing so, we can naturally increase supply to levels that suit the demand. This will aid our seniors with their affordable housing crisis and support our younger generations to live, work and grow in Lewiston.

Ultimately, by enabling the free market to do its job, we can avoid the socialistic rent control measures as seen in southern Maine. Lewiston’s image problem stems back to a crime problem which has strong influences by substance abuse, the growing mental health crisis, and a lack of diverse community connections.

We can address these things and restore Lewiston’s image by encouraging our educators to form genuine connections with their students and plant a caring passion for their community in them. We also need beat cops to form connections with the community and restore trust in our police.

What actions will you take to support businesses and grow the local economy?

I think it is essential that we grow our tax base so that we can reduce our tax rate. When we take the handcuffs off of the free market, we give Lewiston’s small businesses a fighting chance to succeed through reducing taxes and advocating for healthy competition. Our next step should be to double down and to fully invest in the Lewiston Regional Technical Center. With a pool of skilled laborers and tradesmen trained by the LRTC, we can attract and prospect for new businesses so that Lewiston will have a flourishing local economy for generations to come.

What else do you want voters to know about you? 

I want voters to know that a vote for Joshua Pietrowicz is a vote for someone who genuinely cares and will listen to understand when you call. I have a desire to hear the community’s ideas to restore Lewiston’s image and I will advocate for the needs of our neighbors.

 

Name: Carl Sheline

Age: 44

Occupation: Business owner, mayor of Lewiston

Political experience: One term as Lewiston mayor

Why do you think you’re the most qualified, or best candidate for this seat?

During my time as mayor I’ve shone a positive light on Lewiston, its businesses and its people. I fully understand that we have challenges we need to overcome, but I believe that Lewiston’s positives far outweigh the negatives. I’m proud to live here and I want everyone to feel that way.

Please name two issues that you believe are critical to Lewiston’s future, and how you would address them. Be specific.

We need to work together to make further headway on substance use and homelessness. I began this work by creating the Mayoral Ad Hoc Shelter Committee and the Mayoral Ad Hoc Committee on Substance Use & Recovery. These committees both made several excellent recommendations on how to move forward on these issues, and we need to continue that momentum by implementing their recommendations. These two issues aren’t going to go away on their own and they can’t be solved by heavy-handed approaches. We need to dispense with stigma, put away our biases and stop treating our neighbors like the enemy.

Among other things, we need a detox center here in Lewiston and we need a low-barrier shelter for our unhoused. A comprehensive detox center would mean that local people requiring its services could get them when and where they need them instead of being sent out of town and away from their community. A low-barrier shelter would provide a safe place for people who are unhoused to get off the street and work toward permanent housing while also having access to the resources and services needed to address any underlying issues that may have led to them becoming homeless.

What actions will you take to support businesses and grow the local economy? 

I have focused heavily on Lewiston businesses during my time as mayor, including by creating the Mayoral Ad Hoc Committee on Economic Development, whose recommendations will be coming soon. I will continue to advocate for our local businesses at City Hall and at the State House in Augusta. As we attract new commercial investment and support the growth of our current businesses, we also need to maintain focus on housing for our workforce. Lewiston has had a number of housing developments break ground in the past couple of years and even more are on the horizon.

What else do you want voters to know about you?

I fully support Lewiston Public Schools. The education and job training that are provided through our schools and Lewiston Regional Technical Center is how Lewiston is going to continue to move forward and create a better future for ourselves. We need to do everything we can to support our teachers and students.

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