Chloe Maxmin, hailing from rural Maine, is an outgoing Maine State Senator. She founded the Climate Action Club at Lincoln Academy and co-founded Divest Harvard at Harvard College, a campaign that grew to over 70,000 people. She was elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. In 2018, she served in the Maine House of Representatives after becoming the first Democrat (since redistricting) to win a rural conservative district. Chloe is about a new politics for rural America. She is the co-author, alongside her campaign manager, Canyon Woodward, of Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and Why Our Future Depends On It, published by Beacon Press on May 10th, 2022. She is 30 years old and the youngest woman ever to serve in the Maine State Senate. She is also the Co-Founder/Advisor at JustME for JustUS, a Maine-based organization focus on rural youth civic engagement and climate organizing. She is the Co-Founder, along with Canyon, of Dirtroad Organizing, a new non-profit dedicated to rural organizing.
Chloe was raised on her family’s farm in Nobleboro and has been a community organizer for fourteen years. At Lincoln Academy, she started the Climate Action Club and worked with students, teachers, community members, and businesses on local environmental and climate issues. At Harvard, she co-founded Divest Harvard–a campaign calling on Harvard University to divest from fossil fuels that ultimately drew 70,000 supporters. Chloe also founded First Here, Then Everywhere to empower youth climate activists.
The day after she graduated from college, Chloe moved back to Maine. She has worked on political campaigns since then to advocate for Maine. She ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2018, winning her Primary with 80% (breaking record turnout) and the General Election with 52.4% of the vote, making her the first Democrat to win the District 88 seat.
In 2020, Chloe challenged two-term Republican incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Dana Dow and for the State Senate. She won, becoming the youngest woman to ever serve in the Maine State Senate.
Chloe is the recipient of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and the Brower Youth Award. She was also named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone and has been recognized by the Washington Post, MPBN, Maine Women’s Fund, New York Times, NPR, Bill Moyers, Bloomberg, Real Time with Bill Maher, CNN, and other news outlets. She was named the 2020 Legislator of the Year by the Maine Council on Aging.
You can watch an amazing documentary about her and Canyons work, which is called Rural Runners!
Follow Chloe on social media:
Facebook: @ChloeForSenate
Instagram: @Chloe.Maxmin
Twitter: @chloemaxmin
About First Here, Then Everywhere:
First Here, Then Everywhere is a platform that arose out of Chloe’s experiences with community organizing in high school, college, and her legislative campaign. She witnessed the power of people to come together with a common vision and shared purpose to build something better together.
Chloe Maxmin 