Chellie Pingree
Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who has represented Maine's 1st congressional district since 2009, seeks a tenth term in 2026 against Republican Ronald Russell, a defense contractor and the district's 2024 Republican nominee.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Chellie Pingree.
Live News
Recent media coverage for Chellie Pingree.
-
Op-Ed: Mainers are in for a harsh winter: thanks to Republicans
Chellie Pingree argues that Maine residents will face a difficult winter due to Republican policies.
-
Fundraising Update: Representative Chellie Pingree just disclosed $101.4K of new fundraising
Chellie Pingree (ME-01) – Fundraising Update: The article reports that Representative Chellie Pingree disclosed $101,400 in new fundraising.
-
What’s on the ballot in Scarborough?
Chellie Pingree is the Democratic candidate for Maine’s 1st Congressional District (ME-01) and will be facing Republican Ronald Russell in the upcoming election.
-
Pingree Joins Bipartisan Call to Increase Home Heating Assistance Funding
Chellie Pingree advocates to increase LIHEAP funding. She joined a bipartisan group (73 members) urging the House Appropriations Committee to provide an additional $3 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for…
No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- April 2, 1955
- Birthplace
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Education
- University of Southern Maine
College of the Atlantic (degree in human ecology)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Chellie Pingree was born Rochelle Marie Johnson on April 2, 1955, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Harry and Dorothy Johnson; her father worked in advertising and her mother was a nurse. She moved to Maine as a teenager and legally changed her first name to Chellie.
After attending the University of Southern Maine, she graduated from College of the Atlantic with a degree in human ecology and settled on North Haven, an island community off the coast of Rockland.
Following several farming and care-taking jobs, she started North Island Yarn in 1981, a cottage industry of hand knitters that grew into North Island Designs, and she produced five knitting books between 1986 and 1992.
Career
Chellie Pingree won election to the Maine Senate in 1992 and served until 2000, when term limits ended her tenure, and in 1996 she became Maine's second female majority leader. In the legislature she authored Maine Rx, the nation's first bill regulating prescription drug prices. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and lost to Republican incumbent Susan Collins, 58% to 42%, then served as president and CEO of Common Cause from 2003 to 2006.
Pingree was elected to the U.S. House on November 4, 2008, defeating Republican Charlie Summers, and was sworn in on January 3, 2009, becoming the first Democratic woman elected to the House from Maine.
She has won re-election in every election since, including a 2024 victory over Republican Ronald Russell by 22 percentage points.
She has served on the Committee on Appropriations since 2013, where she is ranking member of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and she is a Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
2026 race
Maine's 1st congressional district covers coastal and southern Maine, including Portland, and Chellie Pingree has held it since her first election in 2008. She is seeking a tenth term after winning re-election in 2024 with 58.1% of the vote.
A planned primary challenge from state representative Tiffany Roberts ended when Roberts failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and Pingree won the Democratic primary with 100.0% of the vote.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, she faces Republican Ronald Russell, a defense contractor and the party's 2024 nominee in this district, who won his primary over sales consultant Joshua Pietrowicz with 53.5% of the vote.