LEWISTON — Long-time Lewiston advocate Margaret Craven is running for reelection to House District 59.

Lewiston voters first sent Craven to Augusta as a representative in 2002, and returned her five more times, for a total of four terms as representative and three terms as state senator between 2002 and the present, with one four-year hiatus while she cared for her ailing husband, according to a written statement.

Margaret Craven Sun Journal file photo

A Democrat, she has served on the Appropriations Committee, as well as on the Health and Human Services Committee, which she has chaired.

During her service, Craven has sponsored and co-sponsored many bills in both houses, including most recently expanding the Property Tax Fairness Credit, increasing transparency of prescription drug prices, promoting investment in frontline care workers, and providing resources to combat COVID-19.

“My main focus has always been on early childhood education, long-term care, elder services, and services for people with disabilities, veterans and the homeless,” said Craven, former respite care director for John F. Murphy Homes.

Craven’s list of awards and acknowledgments includes two “Spirit of Lewiston” awards, title of Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Legislator of the Year from Independence Associates, and Honor Roll from Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence. According to her statement, her work to pass a gun bill prohibiting same-day gun purchases by young people was made into a documentary titled, “There Ought to Be A Law,” which won the Maine Film Academy’s Galvanizing Activist Award.

For years she co-hosted a local cable program with Richard Wagner, called “Answers from Augusta.”

Craven was born in the Republic of Ireland, coming first to Boston when she was 17 years old, and moving to Lewiston shortly thereafter with her husband, James Craven. She holds a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Southern Maine.

Craven has been very active in community and charitable activities, serving as a hospice volunteer for 12 years, as friend and guardian to a disabled adult, on the board of the Lewiston Public Library for nine years, as a literacy volunteer, and currently serves on the Board of the Directors of Museum L/A.

She has also run several marathons and, in 1996, was one of those chosen to carry the Olympic torch into Maine. Craven, who is widowed, has two grown sons and three grandchildren who live nearby.

Craven is being challenged by Republican John Reeder of Lewiston.