After four terms serving in the Maine House of Representatives, Republican State Rep. David Haggan is looking to move into the Senate, while his wife Kimberly is running to take his vacant Hampden seat in the House.
Rep. Haggan, a longtime high school and middle school teacher in Regional School Unit 22, termed out of House after the close of the 131st Legislature, and is running for election to Senate District 10.
Senate District 10 covers the Hampden area, and includes municipalities in both Penobscot and northern Hancock counties.
First term State Sen. Peter Lyford (R) is the incumbent running for reelection in District 10, and the two are set to face off in the June 11 primary next Tuesday.
Sen. Lyford previously served three terms in the House before beating Democrat Ralph Cammack by 12 points to win the 2022 general election for Senate District 10.
In the 131st Legislature, Lyford served on the on the Environment and Natural Resources and State and Local Government committees, and was a vehement opponent of last November’s referendum that sought to replace Maine’s privately owned electric utility providers with Pine Tree Power.
[RELATED: Portland Socialist Admits “Pine Tree Power” Is About Growing Socialist Party Influence in Maine…]
Haggan, who for the past three sessions served on the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary, had ample opportunities this past year to weigh in on the hot button issues covered in the 131st Legislature, including abortion, transgender medical treatments for minors and gun control.
Haggan is leaving vacant House District 36, which covers the towns of Hampden and Newburgh, and which he won in the 2022 general election against Kristen Card (D) by about 20 points.
David’s wife Kimberly Haggan, who is also an educator in RSU 22, is running to take over the House seat her husband held, also as a Republican.
David and Kimberly Haggan are both running as clean election candidates, though the conservative Women’s Leadership Fund PAC has spent nearly $2,000 on advertisements in support of David Haggan’s primary campaign for Senate District 10.
According to David Haggan, his decision to run for Senate came after Sen. Lyford approached him in March of last year in the State House, and told him that he had decided to leave the Legislature at the close of his first term.
“I would never run against an incumbent,” Haggan told the Maine Wire on Tuesday. “My plan was to just sail off into the wild blue yonder and be done.”
Haggan said that Lyford offered to help him with a potential campaign for Senate District 10 in 2024, as Haggan had helped him in his 2022 campaign for the seat.
However, by September of 2023, Haggan says that Lyford changed his mind, and decided not to quit the Legislature and run for reelection to the District 10 seat as the incumbent.
“So now all of a sudden, I’m this guy that’s going against my own incumbent, who I like, and I’m in a pretty uncomfortable position,” Haggan said, adding that prior to Lyford changing his mind about running, he had already decided to retire from his teaching career in order to be able to handle multiple committee assignments if elected to the Senate.
In a Wednesday phone call, Sen. Lyford told the Maine Wire that he does not remember ever telling Haggan directly that he planned on leaving the Senate.
“I honestly do not remember, two years ago, standing in front of David [Haggan] and telling him I wasn’t going to [run],” Lyford said.
“I honestly don’t remember standing in front of David and telling him that,” he said. “If David said that — that I did — I would believe David because he’s a very honorable person.”
Lyford said that he does remember some of his Republican colleagues telling Haggan that he should consider running for the District 10 seat, amid discussions at the time that Lyford would not be going for reelection.
When asked whether he did in fact initially decide against running for reelection, Lyford explained that he was frustrated with his committee assignments at the start of his term.
Lyford was originally assigned to the Judiciary Committee and Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
“The problem developed that Judiciary is on the fourth floor of the State House, but Environment and Natural Resources, of course, is all run in the Cross Building,” he said. “And because there’s only 13 senators, I had to serve on both committees on the same day.”
The first-term State Senator said that he went to the Republican Senate leadership to express his frustrations that he felt he could not effectively do the job he wanted to do when splitting the time between the two committees.
As a result, Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) was assigned to Judiciary, and Lyford was reassigned to the State and Local Government Committee.
“[Leadership] changed it and it worked out fine and I got calls from constituents, you know, encouraged me to to run again, and so I certainly decided to,” Lyford said.
Both Haggan and Lyford spoke very highly of each other ahead of the primary election next week, when voters will decide which Republican will go against a Democratic challenger for the District 10 seat in November.
The Democratic candidate in the race is Brewer City Councilor Michele LaBree Daniels.
We need more men like this guy here in power and less left hellbent democrats that have destroyed our state. I was born and brought up here and have NEVER seen it this bad. MILLS has GOT TO GO along with TALBOT ROSS PINGREE AND COLLINS AND KING.
DITTO TO SUZANNAH !!!! they ALL NEED TO GO
I thank Rep Haggan for standing up against the special interest that is making a fortune in literally murdering the pre born. Legalized murder up to first breath…What have we come to as a society?
I wish Rep Haggan and his wife Kim great success in getting elected. Few people step out of their box to participate expecting someone else to make things right. It is with great respect, admiration and appreciation that I thank them for the sacrifices that they make and have made for those of us who still hold dear the very basic principle of life and ethical civility toward others.
Keep in mind that unless we all vote for principled conservatives the time will come when we will no longer feel at home in our own State..