LEWISTON, Maine — Tuesday is election day once again in Lewiston as the city holds a runoff election in the race for mayor. The race is between incumbent mayor Carl Sheline and challenger Jon Connor.
Sheline is hoping to be re-elected for a second term. His campaign goals have been focused on improving Lewiston's infrastructure, securing the streets, helping the homeless, working on substance use prevention, and increasing housing availability.
"We've started a lot of great economic development in our city and initiatives and things that are getting underway, and I want to help continue that," Sheline told NEWS CENTER Maine. "I've really tried just to shine a positive light on Lewiston. We have great businesses, we have great people, we are doing great things in the city, and I encourage people to come out and vote for me. I think positivity wins in the end, and we have a lot of things that we can do together."
Connor, a former state legislator, was born and raised in Lewiston but lived overseas for 20 years while serving in the Air Force. When he came back, he saw Lewiston very different from the place where he grew up. If elected, he said he would like to grow the housing market to attract more residents, support the creation of more local businesses, improve the city's infrastructure, reduce crime, and address mental health and drug use.
"We need to focus on reducing our crime, supporting our law enforcement officers, working with the legal system, the [district attorney's] office, and making sure that the folks that are committing crimes are being held accountable for those actions," Connor told NEWS CENTER Maine. "So, supporting law enforcement is number one to help reduce crime. Number two is we need to focus on the drug use in our city. We have an epidemic going on, and we need to fix that. We need to find solutions that can work for everyone and help these people. It's not a matter of just getting them off the streets. It's a matter of helping these people."
Connor said he has the experience it takes to make a significant change in Lewiston, and he's encouraging people to get out and vote.
"A lot of folks that we've talked to don't even know that there's a runoff election for mayor, so we've been doing the best we can do get that message out there. The city has already shown that they want change. They made a change in the school committee, they made changes in the city council, and now its time to just complete the trifecta," Connor said. "Let's change our mayor and elect Jon Connor and we will get in there and we will work with the current city council, we will work with the community, and we will get this ship righted if you will."
On the other hand, Sheline said he wants to finish the work he started.
"We have a lot of unfinished work. We need to make progress on securing our streets, helping the homeless, substance use, and we've started a lot of great economic development in our city, initiatives and things that are getting underway with new businesses coming to town and filling vacant storefronts and we just need to continue that effort," Sheline said. "Lewiston is a great place to do business."
The Longley School at 145 Birch Street in Lewiston is the only polling place for Tuesday's runoff election. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.