Daniel Sayre

Daniel Sayre lives in Kennebunk, Maine.[1] Sayre earned a B.A. in history from Yale University in 1985. His career experience includes working as the president of New World Associates, LLC, the executive editor of engineering and geosciences with Oxford University Press, an executive marketing manager with John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the vice president and publisher of Island Press, and a consultant.[1][2][3] Sayre has been affiliated with the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Brick Store Museum, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Society for Engineering Education Workforce Summit, and the Town of Kennebunk Budget Board.[3]

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I've had a long career in the publishing industry, creating books for students and professionals in STEM careers. More recently, I've run a national program seeking to expand and improve America's skilled technical workforce: the Industry 4.0 Workforce Summit: https://workforcesummit.asee.org/. I want to bring my accumulated skill and experience to the Maine legislature, along with a deep commitment to ensuring liberty and justice for all Mainers, especially those whose rights are currently being threatened or who have been historically marginalized.

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?

Grow and diversify Maine’s economy. Through leading a national summit on educating the technical workforce, I've learned how to help Maine develop a stronger technical workforce and grow our Tech and Manufacturing sectors.Provide more opportunities for Maine’s young people to build thriving careers without leaving the state by making opportunities for career education and skills training in High School, Community College and elsewhere more affordable, visible, and attractive.Address the housing cost crisis with policies that increase inventory of housing to rent and own at prices that working-class people can afford. This includes removing some restrictions on Accessory Dwelling Units, controlling the proliferation of short-term rentals, and working with builders and developers to find ways to make new home development more cost-efficient.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

In addition to the economic priorities listed above, I am passionate about fulfilling the American promise of liberty and justice for all. This includes advocating for full access to reproductive care, including abortion; ensuring that access to education, economic opportunity, and all civil rights are not infringed based on a person's racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual identity, and that we correct laws and policies that have had proven discriminatory impacts.

I am also passionate about protecting Maine's environment and doing all we can at the state level to address the immediate threat of climate change through strategies to curb future carbon emissions and mitigate the impacts of the climate change that is already upon us.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

These three books have had a major impact on my thoughts about politics:

1. The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt. A social psychologist, Haidt delves deeply into how people construct their moral judgments and how they can stray from our underlying values. It also shows how we can reduce conflict by finding ways to connect with one another on our underlying values.

2. American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis. This incisive biography of Thomas Jefferson dissects several of the most puzzling and contradictory aspects of his intellect and character, and shows how they shaped the challenges of the framers' generation and political patterns that persist to this day. Ellis's analysis make clear the peril of putting the founding generation on a pedestal and demonstrates how the shortcomings and compromises of that political generation laid the foundation for conflicts we are still working out.

3. Union, by Colin Woodard illustrates how the United States has long struggled with competing narratives of who we are as a nation and what we aspire to be. Much of our current division is rooted in this debate between seeing America as having achieved a past state of perfection we must return to, or believing America is a promise of perfection that we have yet to reach and must continue to strive toward. Understanding both perspectives is essential to finding common ground and making progress together.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was cleaning a Howard Johnson's restaurant at an I-95 rest-stop in Connecticut. I cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms as well as the parking lot. I held the job for 3 months in the summer of 1981.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Maine puts redistricting in the hands of an evenly balanced bi-partisan commission and that's the right way to do it.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Policymaking works best when multiple perspectives are at the table and all voices have a chance to be heard. Many of the most valuable conversations that I've had at voters' doors are with people who hold views far different from my own. It's essential that I hear and consider their perspectives, and I will take that same openness to my work with members of all parties in the legislature. The only area in which I am not prepared to compromise is when access to equal opportunity, civil and human rights, or equal protection under the law is being threatened. There can be no compromise on ensuring equal justice for all.