Mitchell looking to set another precedent

May 13, 2010

Check out the latest on Libby from the Portland Press Herald:

Just three years after moving to Maine to raise a family, Mitchell decided to run for the House of Representatives. It was 1974.

She was so new to the area that Democratic Party elders found another Democrat to challenge her in the primary. The South Carolina native won anyway, then won the seat to represent what had been a traditionally Republican district, in Vassalboro.

Since then, it’s been a series of firsts for Mitchell: first female speaker of the House, in 1997; first woman appointed chairman of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston; and, after being chosen Senate president, the first woman in the country to have led both state legislative chambers.

So to Mitchell, a bid to be Maine’s first female governor is simply the next step in a groundbreaking political career that has spanned 18 years in the House and six in the Senate.

“You can look at the entire picture as governor,” Mitchell said. “The governor gets to lead that effort in a much more profound way. I wanted to step into that arena and offer the skills I have honed over the years.”

Read the entire article.