Chellie Pingree

Explore about the Famous Politician Chellie Pingree, who was born in Bayside on April 2, 1955. Analyze Chellie Pingree’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Chellie Pingree dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Chellie Pingree?

Chellie Pingree Biography

Chellie Pingree /ˈ ʃ ɛ l i ˈ p ɪ ŋ ɡ r iː / (born April 2, 1955) is an American politician. She is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Maine’s 1st congressional district since 2009. The district includes most of the southern part of the state, including Portland and Augusta.

Pingree held various farming and care-taking jobs until 1981, when she started North Island Yarn, a cottage industry of hand knitters with a retail store on North Haven. Her business expanded and became North Island Designs, employing as many as ten workers. They began marketing knitting kits and pattern books nationwide through 1,200 retail stores and 100,000 mail-order catalogues. Through North Island Designs, Pingree authored and produced five knitting books between 1986 and 1992. Eisenhower Fellowships selected Chellie Pingree as a USA Eisenhower Fellow in 1997.

Pingree was first elected in 1992. She was outspoken against going to war against Iraq, although counseled by party insiders to avoid that subject. She won re-election in 1994 and 1996. In 2000, she was unable to seek re-election due to term limits.

Pingree was a member of the Maine Senate from 1992 to 2000, serving as majority leader from 1996 to 2000. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, losing to Republican Susan Collins. From 2003-06, she was President and CEO of Common Cause. She is the first Democratic woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine.

Pingree served as the Senate Majority Leader in the Maine Senate representing Knox County. She was elected Maine’s second female Senate Majority Leader on December 4, 1996.

In 2002, Pingree made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican junior U.S. Senator Susan Collins. Collins, a popular moderate incumbent, won by a margin of 16%.

On August 15, 2007, EMILY’s List endorsed Pingree’s campaign for Congress in Maine’s 1st District. In December 2007 she received the endorsement of 21st Century Democrats. She was endorsed by a number of labor organizations and many individuals and state officials, including Congressman Rush D. Holt, Jr.; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky; Maine Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell; former Maine Senate Assistant Majority Leader Anne Rand; State Representative Paulette Beaudoin; progressive writer and activist Jim Hightower; the United Auto Workers; Planned Parenthood, and the League of Conservation Voters.

In April 2007, Pingree filed papers for her bid to run for Maine’s 1st congressional district.

As the leader of Common Cause, Pingree strengthened the organization’s programs in media reform and elections, while maintaining programs in ethics and money in politics. Among the specific issues she championed at Common Cause are Net Neutrality; Mandatory Voter-Verified Paper Ballots; Public Financing of Congressional Elections; National Popular Vote (a work-around of the Electoral College), and an Independent Ethics Commission for Congress. She stepped down from Common Cause in February 2007 to return to her home state and run for Congress in 2008.

Pingree was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2008. She was sworn in to Congress on January 6, 2009.

Pingree typically receives moderate to low approval ratings from socially and economically conservative groups such as the American Family Association and Citizens Against Government Waste, who in 2009 gave Pingree ratings of 0% and 1% respectively. In 2010 the American political magazine National Journal gave Pingree a Composite Conservative rating of 9%, and a Composite Liberal rating of 92%.

Pingree consistently receives high approval ratings from labor, pro-choice, and environmental interest groups. In 2010, Pingree received a rating of 100% from the AFL-CIO, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the League of Conservation Voters.

Soon after her election, she joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which she is now vice-chairwoman. In September 2010, a video surfaced on the internet showing Pingree at Portland International Jetport disembarking from a private jet owned by her then-fiancé, hedge fund manager S. Donald Sussman. This drew criticism due to past statements made by Pingree critical of legislators using private aircraft. Pingree declined to respond. The House Ethics Committee, in a bipartisan letter, stated the travel was permissible under House ethics rules.

In 2010, she ran for reelection, and won, defeating Republican challenger Dean Scontras by a 57–43 margin. She overcame strong anti-Democrat and anti-incumbent political sentiment to become just one of eight Democrats in the House of Representatives to receive a higher percentage of the vote than in 2008.

Pingree has three children; the oldest, Hannah Pingree, is the Ex-Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. On June 18, 2011, Pingree married S. Donald Sussman, a hedge fund manager, in a private ceremony at the couple’s home in North Haven, Maine.

Pingree has consistently voted against resolutions promoting aggressive foreign policy. Pingree voted “yea” in March 2011 on a resolution to remove forces from Afghanistan. In June 2011, Pingree voted “yea” on House Resolution 292, preventing President Barack Obama from deploying ground forces in Libya.

Pingree helped draft the Fair Elections Now Act, a proposal to provide public ‘Fair Elections’ funding for popular candidates who raised a sufficient number of small local contributions. Pingree has spoken out against the 2011 Supreme Court ruling McComish v. Bennett which limited public financing systems for congressional candidate campaigns. Representative Pingree favors a campaign finance system that provides increased opportunities for candidates who lack the benefits of private interest and independent expenditure committee funding.

On February 29, 2012, an Associated Press story mentioned that Pingree was starting to circulate petitions to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Olympia Snowe, which she confirmed on The Rachel Maddow Show later that night. She withdrew her name from the race on March 7 and ran for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

On May 23, 2013, Pingree introduced in the United States House of Representatives the York River Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2013 (H.R. 2197; 113th Congress). If passed, the bill would require the National Park Service (NPS) to study a segment of the York River in the state of Maine for potential addition to the Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The study would be to determine how the proposed designation would affect current recreational and commercial activities. The study would cost approximately $500,000.

Pingree announced on April 26, 2013, that she would not run for Governor of Maine in the 2014 election. She stated that she was “happy” to serve in the House, and that the possibility of a three-way race also factored in to her decision.

Pingree released a statement on September 8, 2015, announcing her separation and beginning of divorce proceedings from Sussman. She called it an “amicable and truly mutual decision”. The two divorced in the summer of 2016.

Until June 1, 2015, Sussman owned a 75% stake in MaineToday Media, the owners of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal, and Morning Sentinel, in addition to sitting on the board of directors. Articles in those papers that discussed Pingree carried a disclaimer noting her marriage to Sussman.

Pingree is opposed to granting the President fast track authority in negotiating trade agreements, having voted against doing so on June 12, 2015. Pingree stated that such agreements needed more transparency and debate, not less.

In 2016, Chellie Pingree defeated Republican challenger Mark Holbrook by around 16 points.

In 2017 Pingree did not attend the inauguration of Donald Trump and instead visited a Planned Parenthood center and a business owned by immigrants. She attended the Women’s March on Washington the following day and stood on stage with other politicians who had also refused to attend the inauguration. “We need to do everything we can to let the incoming administration know we are not happy about their agenda. I’ve had unprecedented numbers of my constituents calling me worried about healthcare, the environment, public education, and they feel disrespected,” she said. In July 2019, Pingree joined 95 Democrats voting for a Trump impeachment resolution. Maine representative Jared Golden and 136 other Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues to kill the resolution.

In late 2017, Pingree’s name was mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for governor of Maine, to succeed term-limited incumbent Paul Lepage. In mid-December, she announced plans to run for re-election to the US House. Pingree again faced Dr. Holbrook in the 2018 general election. The race was not considered competitive, and she defeated Dr. Holbrook by around 26 points.

On December 18, 2019, Pingree voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump from office.

In July 2019, Pingree voted against H. Res. 246 – 116th Congress, a House Resolution introduced by Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL) opposing efforts to boycott the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel. The resolution passed 398-17.

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