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AUGUSTA, Maine — Alan Caron has qualified for the November ballot as an independent candidate for governor.
Caron, an entrepreneur best known for his work on researching ways to improve Maine’s economy, submitted 4,332 certified signatures to the Secretary of State’s office on Thursday, more than enough to assure his place on the Nov. 6 ballot.
“After watching years of paralysis and bickering in Augusta, the voters of Maine are looking for a real change that goes beyond replacing one party with the other,” Caron said. “I offer a long track record of bringing people together and a new and hopeful vision for moving Maine’s economy and government into the 21st century.”
Caron, of Freeport, joins one other independent who has already qualified for the general election ballot, Terry Hayes, and whomever the two parties nominate on June 12th.
As governor, Caron has pledged to :
- Put Maine on the national map as a place to create and grow innovative small businesses, and to put the resources of Maine behind the state’s entrepreneurs.
- Create a more modern and efficient 21st-century government,
- Provide two years of college or training to everyone who commits to staying in Maine long term.
- Move the state toward energy independence by 2050, which will keep $5 billion dollars a year in Maine that is now being sent out-of-state.
- Continue to move the state toward the goal of ensuring that everyone in Maine has affordable, quality health care.
Caron, who grew up in poverty in Waterville’s south end, in a family of mill workers and farmers, has devoted much of his life to creating more opportunities for Maine people to succeed.
Despite having no formal education past ninth grade, Caron eventually earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and co-authored two books about Maine’s economy and government (MAINE’S NEXT ECONOMY, 2016, and REINVENTING MAINE GOVERNMENT, 2010). He also wrote a weekly column for the Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Since 1987, he’s been the owner of Caron Communications which has provided strategic planning services to companies and organizations around the state. In recent years, he also created two statewide organizations to help build a new prosperity in Maine. Caron founded GrowSmart Maine in 2003, where he brought the Brookings Institution to Maine for a landmark study called ‘Charting Maine’s Future’.
In 2010, he formed Envision Maine to promote entrepreneurs and an innovation-driven economy. There, he worked with businesses, nonprofits and government leaders to convene six large gatherings across the state to explore Maine’s future. The gatherings focused on the next economy, innovation, rural Maine, education and climate change. Each event was co-sponsored by as many as 30 partner organizations, ranging from Chambers of Commerce to environmental, education and energy organizations.
