Brunswick voters are sending Rep. dan Ankeles back to the Maine House to represent District 100, which encompasses part of Brunswick, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s election.
Ankeles, a Democrat, beat his challenger, Ivon Prescott (R), in a 4,384-1,217 vote. This next term will mark his second in the Maine House of Representatives. Ankeles said that he is gearing up to address the disastrous toxic foam spill on Brunswick Landing that happened in August.
“I am incredibly honored to be going back to do what I think is really important work for our community,” Ankeles said. “You know, I was reelected in the midst of our district having one of the worst environmental incidents in state history, and I think you can look around the country and you can see all kinds of interesting results, but nothing that happened anywhere else in the state or anywhere else in the country really changes the fundamental mission for the next session, which is to get the foam off the base and to make sure that nothing like this can ever happen again.”
Ankeles said that he believes removing toxic chemicals is a bipartisan issue. He said he aims to explore ways to establish takeback programs and a statewide inventory of aqueous-film forming foam (AFFF) — the PFAS-containing, firefighting foam concentrate that spilled in August. He also hopes to clear away regulatory barriers that slow down dealing with other hangars with toxic foam on the base, take people with wells and shellfish harvesters into consideration, and ultimately, reform the Brunswick Landing authority on the hook for the spill — the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority — to restore some local control.
Ankeles said he also plans to address Maine’s tax burden and, hopefully, make changes to Maine’s tax code. He described risks of elder Mainers getting priced out of their homes and losing economic diversity in towns.
“We ask to much of the property tax — the property tax is regressive, it is pricing people out of their homes, the revaluation scenario across the state is making it worst,” he said.
Ankeles said that he’s prepared to work across the aisle to get things done. He noted, however, that he plans to represent Brunswick even in the face of a “red wave” happening nationally.
“It’s my job to represent the values that we voted for in Brunswick, and we did choose a different path in Brunswick,” Ankeles said. “And I’m not letting that get lost in the fog.”