Lydia V. Crafts. (Nolan Wilkinson photo)
State Rep. Lydia V. Crafts, D-Newcastle, advocates for addressing climate change, increasing affordable housing, and bettering health care in her campaign for a third term in the Maine House of Representatives.
Crafts faces Mary Lou J. Daxland, R-Newcastle, in the race for House District 46, which encompasses Bristol, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, and Nobleboro. In her first term, Crafts represented House District 90, which included Bristol, Bremen, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, and Nobleboro, before redistricting in 2021.
Crafts, a self-described “born and bred” Mainer, spent her youth in Bangor. She later graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and geology. She furthered her education with a master’s degree from the University of Maine.
After working as a program manager for child-mentoring nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters in college, Crafts became a public school social worker. Most recently, Crafts was a social worker at Bristol Consolidated School, though she transitioned to private practice after her first term in the Legislature.
After she moved to Newcastle in 2012, Crafts said she started to get more involved locally. She said she has been serving on the Newcastle Board of Appeals for eight years, and she also currently serves as the Sheepscot Community Church board chair.
In the 131st Legislature, Crafts serves as the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation and as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources.
She also serves on the state’s Transit Advisory Council and Maine Recovery Advisory Council, which focus on ways to advise government agencies on transportation and substance use disorder, respectively.
Crafts said two January storms that caused flooding on much of the Lincoln County coastline show the biggest problem affecting the coastal district is climate change.
“You can’t have cultural communities like we do here along the Midcoast if everything is repeatedly destroyed by storms like that,” she said. “I think that being prepared for some of the changes that are coming and the implications of climate change is going to continue to be one of the very, very important pieces.”
The state should continue to build up its Rainy Day Fund and advocate for more climate resilience work in local communities, Crafts said. The state’s emergency response to two January storms using the fund – L.D. 2225 “An Act to Provide Funding to Rebuild Infrastructure Affected by Extreme Inland and Coastal Weather Events” – was a good step, she said. The bill was an emergency effort to distribute $60 million in state money to rebuild communities and infrastructure affected by the storms.
Inflated home prices pose a significant challenge to attracting professional newcomers to Maine, according to Crafts.
“We need to think about how to support middle class and working class folks to be able to live here so they can also work here, raise families, and enjoy the beautiful, amazing parts of our community that should not only be available to folks if they can afford it,” Crafts said.
The health care and emergency services fields are facing a shortage of workers in Maine, Crafts said.
L.D. 2140, “An Act to Enact the Interstate Social Work Licensure Compact,” was introduced by Crafts and signed into law in April. It entered Maine into the Interstate Social Work Licensure Compact, which is designed to make it easier for social workers to move between and operate in every state that has enacted it by creating a standard for social work licensing.
Another piece of legislation Crafts worked on over her latest term was L.D. 1975, “An Act to Resolve to Establish the Task Force to Study Changes to the Legal Status of Scheduled Drugs.” It originally would have decriminalized the use of scheduled substances and establish 24-hour intervention centers in every county for those having mental health or substance use crises. However, the bill was amended to establish a task force to study the effects of decriminalizing drugs and remove Craft’s proposed measures before it was signed into law.
Though the bill did not accomplish everything she had hoped, Crafts said she wants to continue working on ways to destigmatize drug addiction rehabilitation.
“What we have been doing is not working, and for most people who support incarceration, it’s because they want their loved one to have a roof over their head and food and medical attention,” Crafts said. “It’s monitoring them to prevent them from dying, and those services don’t have to happen in a prison.”
During the 131st Legislature, Crafts was a primary sponsor of 17 bills, seven of which have been signed into law. Crafts’ sponsored measures include transferring the Monhegan Water Co. to local municipal control, clarifying definitions in regulatory language, and establishing 200 detoxification beds across the state to help those with substance abuse disorder.
Though she said the state is too rural to stop being car-centric, Crafts believes options like public transit for islanders visiting the mainland should be looked into. Often, it can be cost-prohibitive for islanders to bring cars with them, she said.
Access to electric vehicle charging stations also needs to be expanded, she said.
“We want to make sure that we are also preparing for what it looks like as more and more people purchase (electric vehicles),” Crafts said.
Since her first term, Crafts said she has found how important it is to learn from and work with others, even those outside her party.
“Policy takes a lot of knowledge, a lot of expertise, but it also takes collaboration and the ability to take in conflicting information and find a point of compromise,” she said.
Crafts is endorsed by the Maine branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Maine Conservation Voters, the Wabanaki Alliance, Maine Conservation Voters, the Maine Service Employees Association, the Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund PAC, the Sierra Club, the National Association of Social Workers Maine Chapter, EqualityMaine, and Defend Our Health.
Outside of her work in the Legislature and as a private practice social worker, Crafts enjoys spending time with her daughter, Kestrel, stepdaughter, Amelia, and husband, Kevin; as well as cooking, baking, and hiking with her dogs, Moses and Einstein.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
