Lisa Savage

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Lisa Savage

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Bowdoin College, 1977

Graduate

University of Southern Maine, PortlandGolham, 1997

Personal

Religion

Unaffiliated

Profession

Teacher, Business owner

Contact

Campaign website

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Personal website

Personal Facebook

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Personal YouTube

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Lisa Savage (independent) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Maine. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Savage completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

In 2020, Savage participated in a Candidate Conversation hosted by Ballotpedia and EnCiv. Click here to view the recording.

Biography

Lisa Savage obtained an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in May 1977. She received a graduate degree from the University of Southern Maine, Portland/Gorham, in May 1997. Her professional experience includes working as a teacher in Maine public schools for 25 years. She earned a National Board Professional Teacher Certification and was a member of the Maine Education Association. Savage worked as a small business owner/operator from 1988 to 1995 when she enrolled in graduate school to become a teacher.

Elections

2020

See also: United States Senate election in Maine, 2020

United States Senate election in Maine, 2020 (July 14 Democratic primary)

United States Senate election in Maine, 2020 (July 14 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Maine

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Susan Collins in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Susan Collins	51.0	417,645	0	Won (1)
		Sara Gideon	42.4	347,223	0	1
		Lisa Savage	5.0	40,579	0	1
		Max Linn	1.6	13,508	0	1
		Tiffany Bond (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Douglas Fogg (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
	Submit photo	Ian Kenton Engelman (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.0	228	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 819,183
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Linda Wooten (Independent)
• Danielle VanHelsing (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate Maine

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Sara Gideon in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Sara Gideon	71.5	116,264	0	Advanced (1)
		Betsy Sweet	22.9	37,327	0	1
		Bre Kidman	5.6	9,090	0	1

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 162,681
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jonathan Treacy (D)
• Cathleen London (D)
• Ross LaJeunesse (D)
• Michael Bunker (D)
• Christine Gates (D)

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for U.S. Senate Maine

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Susan Collins in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
✔		Susan Collins	98.8	87,375	0	Advanced (1)
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	1.2	1,073	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 88,448
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Derek Levasseur (R)

Campaign themes

2020

Candidate Conversations

Moderated by journalist and political commentator Greta Van Susteren, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A. Click below to watch the conversation for this race.

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released March 17, 2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Lisa Savage completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Savage's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm Lisa Savage, teacher, organizer, and grandmother and I'm running for US Senate to give Mainers a Senator who will work for people, planet, and peace.

I believe we deserve a government that works for us, not the big banks, weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel giants and corporate lobbyists who are calling the shots in Washington.

As a union vice president and negotiator, I bargained successfully for higher wages and health care benefits for public school educators.

As a teacher in rural Maine, I work with children whose families are struggling to survive in an economy that's just become significantly worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were already facing a climate crisis harming our farms, fisheries and coast. Yet with all the urgent needs we face, Congress is making things worse by giving almost 60% of our federal discretionary budget to the Pentagon for endless, unwinnable wars that are making the world less safe.

I believe it's time to say no to politics as usual. As your voice in the Senate, I'll do what it takes to protect our children's future and create a better world for all of us.

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?

• Pass Medicare For All: Make quality healthcare a human right. Expand this successful federal program immediately during the pandemic, and include immigrants as recipients of universal, single-payer healthcare.

• Adopt a Green New Deal, as the Greens have been advocating for two decades, to tackle the climate crisis and create good union jobs building green energy and transit systems rather than weapons systems that contribute to global warming.

• Offer fully funded quality education for all, including free public higher education without student debt. Abolish student debt now to respond to economic distress during the pandemic.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm particularly passionate about connecting the dots between the Pentagon and its enormous contribution to global crisis. Militarism is bad for our health in many ways: building and using weapons that harm or kill people, causing PTSD and suicide in troops, consuming fossil fuels at a rate higher than 140 nations, polluting the oceans and land with toxic chemicals, and gobbling up nearly 60% of the federal budget each year so that we are told we "can't afford" Medicare for All or free post-secondary education.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Senator Margaret Chase Smith was a family friend who represented Maine in Congress. In her first term in the Senate, she gave a historic speech later known as "Declaration of Conscience" standing up to McCarthyism or red-baiting in Congress. In it she affirmed the rights of people to "hold unpopular opinions" and dared McCarthy to call her un-American for doing so. For this reason, MCS is my shero.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The most important principles for an elected official are integrity, that is, deeds that align with words, and a commitment to represent constituents' interests rather than the interests of wealthy campaign donors. Characteristics which are important include being a clear and honest communicator, the ability to recognize the validity of other points of view than one's own, and the courage to provide meaningful leadership during times of crisis. Being a flexible problem solver who is able to respond nimbly to new developments is also increasingly important as we face multiple crises that are unprecedented.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

The qualities I possess that I believe would make me a successful officeholder: good listener, able to guide large groups to consensus, well-informed, flexible problem solver, excellent communicator, comfortable with a leadership role. As a former union negotiator for a local bargaining unit of the Maine Education Association, I listened to my constituents about their needs and priorities before speaking for them. I communicated with them regularly about progress and key decision points to build consensus. I was well-prepared for each negotiating session, with a strong team that included diverse skills and experiences. My team and the membership were comfortable taking some risks to get the contracts we deserved, and we were successful both years in gaining better salaries and benefits as well as working conditions.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Love Train, after watching a video of multiple performances by students and professional musicians at arts turnaround schools across the U.S. "People around the world, join hands. Get on the love train, love train...And if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you."

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The climate crisis is the greatest security threat to the U.S. in the long term, while the COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest challenge in the short term. Militarism has long dominated the discretionary budget Congress spends each year, and is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It also prevents the U.S. from having much needed programs and services that the rest of the wealthy countries have had for decades: effective and accessible public transportation, and single payer medical care for all. The ongoing pandemic has exposed ho

What qualities does the U.S. Senate possess that makes it unique as an institution?

The U.S. Senate was designed to play an important role in the checks and balances baked into the Constitution. It provides equal representation to the 50 states in contrast to the House of Representatives where representation reflects a state's population relative to other states. It tries officials impeached by the House, oversees judicial appointments, and conducts hearings on many appointed officials who serve in the Executive branch of government.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics?

I do not believe that it's beneficial for senators to have previous experience taking campaign contributions from big corporation executives and lobbyists, or from PACs that launder corporate money. I believe the people of Maine would be much better served by a senator who refuses such donations and therefore is able to represent the interests of constituents rather than their wealthy donors.

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.

See also

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

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External links

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Footnotes

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Maine's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Susan Collins (R)

Angus King (I)

Representatives

District 1

Chellie Pingree (D)

District 2

Jared Golden (D)

Democratic Party (2)

Republican Party (1)

Independent (1)