Chellie Pingree:
A UAW Sister from Maine Runs for Senate

Story by Jennifer John

On the conference program, she was listed as “Sister Chellie Pingree.”

Her membership is not of a religious order but that of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. And she’s running for a U.S. Senate seat from Maine.

She was proud to stand in front of her union sisters and brothers.

“Twenty-five years ago as a young mother with three children, I never would have imagined that I’d be standing up here and running for the Senate,” said Pingree, 46.

“When I’m elected,” she stated, “I’ll be someone you can call senator and someone you can call sister.”

For years, Pingree--who lives 12 miles off the coast in North Haven, Maine--ran a knitting business from her farm.

In 1992, she won a seat in the Maine Senate and four years later was elected Maine Senate majority leader. As majority leader, she fought hard for social and economic justice, taking on powerful adversaries, most notably the pharmaceutical industry.

A visit to the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in 1993 at a Region 9A retreat opened her eyes to how politics can benefit working families.

In 2000, Pingree sponsored the nation’s first bipartisan prescription drug pricing bill, which now provides a model for state policy makers across the country.

After eight years as a state legislator (she was term-limited in 2000), Pingree has challenged incumbent Republican Susan Collins. Her campaign chairman is former Sen. George Mitchell. So far, the campaign has raised $1.1 million.

If elected, she has vowed to continue her fight for lower drug prices and a full Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors.