Richard Bennett (Maine)
2022 - Present
2024
1
Richard Bennett (Republican Party) is a member of the Maine State Senate, representing District 18. He assumed office on December 7, 2022. His current term ends on December 4, 2024.
Bennett (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Maine State Senate to represent District 18. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. He advanced from the Republican primary on June 11, 2024.
Biography
Richard Bennett lives in Oxford, Maine. Bennett earned a B.A. from Harvard University in 1986 and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern Maine in 2000. His career experience includes working as the CEO and chairman of GMI Ratings, co-chairman of the board of directors of Quoddy Inc., and the president and CEO of ValueEdge Advisors.[1][2][3] Bennett was first elected to serve as the chair of the Republican Party of Maine in 2013, and he was re-elected to a two-year term in 2015.
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Bennett was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Bennett was assigned to the following committees:
- Environment and Natural Resources Committee
- Government Oversight Committee
- Senatorial Vote Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Maine State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Maine State Senate District 18
Incumbent Richard Bennett and Linda Miller are running in the general election for Maine State Senate District 18 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Richard Bennett (R) | ||
 | Linda Miller (D) | |
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Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for Maine State Senate District 18
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Linda Miller in round 1 .
| Total votes: 1,521 |
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Republican primary election
Republican Primary for Maine State Senate District 18
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Richard Bennett in round 1 .
| Total votes: 2,673 |
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: Maine State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Maine State Senate District 18
Incumbent Richard Bennett defeated Colin O'Neill in the general election for Maine State Senate District 18 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Richard Bennett (R) | 62.5 | 11,931 | |
| Colin O'Neill (D) | 37.5 | 7,171 | |
| Total votes: 19,102 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for Maine State Senate District 18
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Colin O'Neill in round 1 .
| Total votes: 1,317 |
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Republican primary election
Republican Primary for Maine State Senate District 18
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Richard Bennett in round 1 .
| Total votes: 2,284 |
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2020
See also: Maine State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Maine State Senate District 19
Richard Bennett defeated Katherine Branch in the general election for Maine State Senate District 19 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Richard Bennett (R) | 59.6 | 13,581 | |
| Katherine Branch (D) | 40.4 | 9,202 | ||
| Total votes: 22,783 | ||||
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for Maine State Senate District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Katherine Branch in round 1 .
| Total votes: 3,022 |
||||
Republican primary election
Republican Primary for Maine State Senate District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Richard Bennett in round 1 .
| Total votes: 2,827 |
||||
2012
Bennett ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. Senate, representing Maine. Bennett sought the nomination on the Republican ticket.[4] He faced Scott D'Amboise, Charles Summers, Debra Plowman, Bruce Poliquin, and William Schneider in the June 12 Republican primary. Bennett was defeated by Charles Summers in the primary election.[5] The Democratic primary was between Benjamin Pollard, Matthew Dunlap, Cynthia Dill, and Jon Hinck. Cynthia Dill won the Democratic nomination and will face Summers in the general election, along with minor party candidates Andrew Ian Dodge, Aaron Marston, and Angus King.[5]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2022
Richard Bennett did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Richard Bennett did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Republican Party of Maine
Rick Bennett was elected chair of the Republican Party of Maine (Maine GOP) in July 2013 following the resignation of former party chair Richard Cebra. Bennett stated that his aim as party chair was to "energize Republicans across the ideological spectrum without asking them to sacrifice their beliefs." Under his leadership, voters elected Congressman Bruce Poliquin (R) and re-elected Governor of Maine Paul LePage (R) and U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R) during the 2014 election cycle. Republicans also gained majority status in the Maine State Senate and added 10 new seats in the Maine House of Representatives. Bennett was unanimously re-elected party chair in February 2015 for a two-year term.[6][7][8]
Prior to his election as party chair, Bennett served the Maine GOP in a variety of positions including executive director, secretary, and vice chair. He served as the party's national committeeman from May 2008 through September 2012 and as convention chair during two Maine GOP state conventions.[9]
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
| Richard Bennett | |
| Republican National Convention, 2016 | |
| Status: | RNC Delegate |
| State: | Maine |
| Bound to: | Unknown |
| Delegates to the RNC 2016 | |
| Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state | |
Bennett was an RNC delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Maine.[10] In Maine’s caucuses on March 5, 2016, Ted Cruz won 12 delegates, Donald Trump won nine, and John Kasich won two. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Bennett was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Maine’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[11]
Delegate rules
Delegates from Maine to the Republican National Convention were elected at the state convention in April 2016. Maine GOP bylaws stipulated that delegates were to be bound to the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention. If a candidate withdrew prior to the convention, his or her delegates were to become unbound.
Maine caucus results
- See also: Presidential election in Maine, 2016
| Maine Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
 Ted Cruz |
45.9% | 8,550 | 12 | |
| Donald Trump | 32.6% | 6,070 | 9 | |
| John Kasich | 12.2% | 2,270 | 2 | |
| Marco Rubio | 8% | 1,492 | 0 | |
| Ben Carson | 0.7% | 132 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.3% | 55 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.3% | 58 | 0 | |
| Totals | 18,627 | 23 | ||
| Source: The New York Times | ||||
Delegate allocation
Maine was expected to have 23 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, six were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's two congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's district delegates.[12][13]
Of the remaining 17 delegates, 14 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[12][13]
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Maine scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Maine State Legislature was in session from December 7 to March 30.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Maine State Legislature was in session from January 5 to May 9.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Maine State Legislature was in session from December 2 to March 30.
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Bennett lives in Oxford, Maine, with his wife Karen and their two children.[1]
Noteworthy events
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| Coronavirus pandemic |
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.
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On November 29, 2020, Bennett announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus.[14]
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maine Senate Republicans, "Senator Rick Bennett," accessed January 16, 2021
- ↑ Maine Senate Republicans, "Rick Bennett," accessed April 27, 2023
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Richard Bennett," accessed April 27, 2023
- ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "Candidate List Primary 2012" accessed March 13, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Associated Press, "Election Results" accessed June 12, 2012
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Rick Bennett, new GOP chairman, seen as unifying force for fractured Maine party," July 22, 2013
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Maine Republicans unanimously re-elect Rick Bennett party chairman," February 16, 2015
- ↑ Portland Press Herald, "State House dynamic changing as Republicans seize control of Maine Senate," November 5, 2014
- ↑ Republican Party of Maine, "Our leadership," accessed April 12, 2016
- ↑ ME GOP, "Master List: National Convention Delegates and Delegate Alternates," April 24, 2016
- ↑ To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Incoming state senator tests positive for COVID-19, days ahead of swearing-in," November 30, 2020
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lisa Keim (R) |
Maine State Senate District 18 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by James Hamper (R) |
Maine State Senate District 19 2020-2022 |
Succeeded by Lisa Keim (R) |
