Senate District 14
Craig Hickman

Senator Hickman of Winthrop is an organic farmer, small business owner, poet, author, and Harvard graduate. He represents Senate District 14, which comprises Chelsea, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hallowell, Manchester, Monmouth, Pittston, Randolph, Readfield, Wayne, West Gardiner, and Winthrop.

After winning a seat in the Maine Senate in a 2021 special election, Senator Hickman served as the Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Committees on Labor and Housing and Veterans and Legal Affairs. He also chaired the Citizen Trade Policy Commission, the Commission to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Zoning and Land Use Restrictions, the Commission to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Land Use Regulations and Short-term Rentals, and the Commission to Examine Reestablishing Parole.

Now in his second term, Senator Hickman serves as the Senate Chair of the Committee on Government Oversight, where he presided over the Legislature’s investigation into DHHS’s Office of Child and Family Services and Child Protective Services in the wake of increasing child maltreatment rates. He continues to serve as Senate Chair of the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, as a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, and as a member of the Senate Committee on Conduct and Ethics.

Prior to the Senate, Hickman served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, sponsoring and fighting for landmark legislation that promotes food sovereignty, protects individual rights and civil liberties, combats poverty and hunger, advances rural economic development, and strengthens resilient local communities. He served as House Chair of the Legislature’s Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, a member of the Committees on Veterans and Legal Affairs and the Judiciary, and House Chair of the Citizen Trade Policy Commission and the Commission to Study the Public Reserve Lands Management Fund.

Senator Hickman co-authored the first-in-the-nation Maine Food Sovereignty Act of 2017 and Maine’s Right to Food Constitutional Amendment, ratified by 61% of the voters in 2021, making Maine the first to enshrine the human right to food in a state constitution in the United States. He also secured passage of legislation that saved Maine Veterans’ Homes and bring justice to the survivors of members of the Maine National Guard harmed by exposure to toxic chemicals at Gagetown.

Senator Hickman is the son of a Tuskegee Airman and a wise woman. His parents were involved in the Civil Rights Movement, teaching him by example about the importance of public service and community. He is the first Black lawmaker in Maine history to serve in both chambers of the Maine Legislature and the first Black lawmaker to serve as both Speaker Pro Tem of the Maine House and President Pro Tem of the Maine Senate.

Senator Hickman is also a National Poetry Slam Champion, Lambda Literary Award Finalist for his memoir Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures, and a recipient of the Angels in Adoption® Program congressional award.  He lives in Winthrop and runs a successful diversified organic farm and bed and breakfast on Annabessacook Lake with his husband of twenty-six years.