Chellie Pingree has lived on the offshore island of North Haven, Maine, since she was a teenager. On North Haven, she has been an organic farmer, raised three children, and started two successful small businesses. After serving as the town’s tax collector (a job no one else wanted), she became the chair of the local school board and eventually was elected to the State Senate from a predominantly Republican district. In 2008, she was elected to Congress to represent Maine’s First District. With Chellie’s election that year, Maine became the first state in American history to have a majority female Congressional delegation.

Chellie has worked hard all her life. As Maine Magazine wrote, “Pingree can work hard. Give her any job—chopping wood, planting a garden, canning vegetables, raising children, rewriting the U.S. Farm Bill—and she’s your woman.” She knows that meeting payroll and providing good benefits isn’t easy. After running an organic farm and selling produce locally, Chellie started North Island Yarn in 1981. By the time she sold it, the company was employing ten people in the tiny island community.

During Chellie’s time in Congress, Democrats have been in both the majority and the minority—but regardless of which party controls Congress and despite a highly partisan atmosphere, Chellie gets things done.

In Congress, Chellie currently sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee, where she has fought to expand opportunities for working families, support our nation’s farmers, protect our veterans, and expand access to health care. As the top Democrat on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, Chellie works to protect our national parks like Acadia, support the arts and culture, uphold our treaty obligations to Tribal communities, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

Throughout her career of public service,the lessons she learned in those early days on North Haven have always been her guide: Be accountable to your neighbors, and always use your common sense.