Rachel Talbot Ross

Rachel Talbot Ross (Democratic Party) is a member of the Maine State Senate, representing District 28. She assumed office on December 3, 2024. Her current term ends on December 1, 2026.

Talbot Ross (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the Maine State Senate to represent District 28. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. She advanced from the Democratic primary on June 9, 2026.

The Maine House of Representatives unanimously elected Ross to serve as the Maine Speaker of the House in November 2022, making her the first Black speaker of the Maine state House. She left the state House in 2024.[1]

Talbot Ross worked as the City of Portland’s director of equal opportunity and multicultural affairs for 20 years and as president of the Portland branch of the NAACP.[2] Talbot Ross founded three nonprofit organizations focused on racial justice in Maine, including the Maine Black Community Development, Maine Freedmon Trails, and the Martin Luther King Jr., Fellows.[3] Talbot Ross chaired the Maine Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil RIghts and the African American Collection of Maine at the University of Southern Maine.[4]

Talbot Ross first ran for public office in 2016, winning election to the Maine state House in District 40. After twice winning re-election in District 40, Talbot Ross won election District 118 following redistricting. In November 2020, Talbot Ross became the assistant majority leader in the Maine state House.

During her time in the legislature, Talbot Ross has sponsored legislation to create Maine's Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Tribal Populations, which she chaired. She also sponsored bills to include racial impact analysis in the legislative process and expand tribal legal authority over domestic violence against Native Americans in Maine.[4]

Talbot Ross was one of five Black House speakers honored at a White House ceremony in February 2023. During her trip to the White House, Talbot Ross said, "While it is an honor to be included at events at the White House, it was equally critical that I used my platform and this trip to highlight Maine’s need for federal support in the areas of housing, food insecurity, support for the care economy and crucial investments in infrastructure."[1]

Talbot Ross' father, Gerald Talbot, was the first Black person elected to the Maine Legislature in 1972. After Maine Democrats nominated Rachel Talbot Ross to serve as speaker of the house, she said, "What I would like to do is take all of the voices, all of the lived experiences – so very different from the top of the state to the bottom – and to really listen to those, to use all of that experiences to the best of our ability. I am not the only one making history. We all are making history today. I am proud of my state. I am proud of my colleagues and I can't wait to get out there and get to work."[2]

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