Maine State Senate District 20 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Maine, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Maine State Senate District 20 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Maine State Senate District 20

Eric Brakey defeated Bettyann W. Sheats in the general election for Maine State Senate District 20 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eric Brakey (R)	50.4	9,064
		Bettyann W. Sheats (D)	49.6	8,918

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Bettyann W. Sheats (D)

The emergence of COVID-19 has revealed the flaws within our healthcare system across our nation. Our hodgepodge of work-based, private, and social (VA, Medicare, Medicaid) health insurance is expensive and hard to manage for providers and individuals. And the virus has shown how vulnerable our current system is to changing situations, with workers laid off through no fault of their own, losing their healthcare insurance. We, Americans, have proven we can accomplish anything we set as a priority. We need to make affordable healthcare accessible to everyone.

Maine's Budget Stabilization Fund, also known as the Rainy Day Fund, is at a record high. This means Maine is well prepared to address unforeseen issues and to address issues pushed aside for too long, like our infrastructure. We have learned from COVID-19 that expansion of broadband is not a luxury. It is essential for our healthcare system, education, and especially our economy: for training our workforce, for workers to connect from home, or for businesses (wherever they are) to connect to customers (wherever they may be). It is time to expand reliable broadband across the state.

Maine has the highest percentage of veterans, whom we serve well. But we need to be prepared for the wave of young servicemen and servicewomen leaving active duty in the next few years as well as the numerous Vietnam Era Veterans whose healthcare and housing needs will increase with their age. As a veteran, I understand the common challenges faced by the community. I have worked hard to improve veterans’ access to health care services, obtained funding for the only female veteran homeless shelter and transitional housing site in Maine, and led the effort on expanding Veteran Treatment Courts in Androscoggin County.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Bettyann W. Sheats (D)

As a mom I am most passionate about keeping our kids safe and leaving them a clean and healthy environment. When I learned that the decorative charms my daughter and I used to make bracelets contained lead, I got involved and helped pass the Kids Safe Products Act in Maine, which banned BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups. As a legislator, I have worked with firefighters to get cancerous flame retardants out of furniture, with moms to get phthalates out of food packaging, with farmers to keep PFAS out of our water, and with landlords to get lead out of apartment buildings.

See also

More about these elections:

• Maine State Senate elections, 2022

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