About Jim Libby

Every kid in Maine has a dream.

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When a friend pointed out to me that I'd need to talk about mine, and that I should tell my story with pictures, I thought it would be a tough task. Exactly who could identify with a Mainer who just wanted to be a college professor and a political leader at a young age?

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After I began to write this account, I came to believe that most of you will identify with my experiences. They are just like yours.  You chose to be an engineer, a hostess, a lawyer, a nurse, or an hourly employee at the local market.  My love was the college campus. It took a lot to work there.

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My father Bob and grandfather Alfred were big influences on me.  My father fought in WWII and engineered a ship at the Normandy Invasion. Alfred was shot in the trenches during WWI, and survived. When my father returned from war, his vision was to work hard and be self-reliant, living with neighbors who respected each other and who strove for a civilized society, with peace and order. After all, these still are the two greatest wars, and he and his father both went through dark times. My grandfather carried a bullet in his leg for his entire life. My father carried the memory of some shipmates who drowned while trying to storm the beach. My father was all about harmony, respecting one's neighbor, and order. He believed in freedom and privacy. I learned that from him. My mother Isabel enjoyed friendships, family, and she knew the importance of faith, so I learned a lot from her as well. 

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As a youth, my extended family was the auto racing family.  This included everybody in the grandstands, every racer in the pit, the officials, the owners, even the flagmen. We drove home from the track past midnight, twice a week, from age 1 to age 25. I wouldn't trade those nights for anything, with the exception of the night when driver Bob Bushley, Jr. hit the front wall and lost his life. There was nothing but silence during the drive home and the entire day following.

 

I watched as we built dozens of race cars from scratch, right in my garage. My dad was a welder. I was taught how to stick weld when I was five years old, using this big red unit that looked like an amplifier. When my father and uncles were done, we'd have yet another new race car to cheer for. Nearly every part came from a junkyard.

 

I went to Bonny Eagle High School in Standish. I loved basketball and academics, although I was shocked to learn that two of my classmates were smarter than I was. They made it look easy.  My class developed good friendships. One day a friend asked me to run his campaign for class president, so I did. After all, my father was also on the town select board.  We won. That was the beginning of over four decades of campaigning. I started working in a campaign for Bill Cohen.  Later, i supported Ronald Reagan, Olympia Snowe, and many others,.  Eventually I ran for office.

 

I admired people who could get things done, like Newt Gingrich nationally and Paul LePage locally.  I had to admit that George Mitchell worked hard for Maine too. These were organized political leaders who understood that state and national resources are limited, and that political leaders can do a lot with limited resources if they worked together. I grew to prefer good financial stewards of the public trust. Most of those leaders were conservative. In Mitchell's case, I liked him mostly mostly for his diplomatic skills.

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My basketball days included high school, college, summer leagues, and men's leagues.  Eventually I learned how to coach as well. It has always been a hobby, but I approached it as if it were my profession.  I coached at St. Joseph's College, Gorham High School, Thomas College, and privately for the Maine Bulldogs and the Maine Firecrackers. I learned how to coach from coaches Rick Simonds and Jimmy Graffam.  They both had mastered the running game as a result of their contact with a master coach, Art Dyer of Medomak Valley.  All understood the importance of defensive pressure and using offensive patterns even when incorporating the running game.

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GTE-Sylvania taught me efficiency.  We made circuit breakers for automobiles. The part I did not like was witnessing all the jobs that were being shipped out to Haiti. One day I told my father about the lower prices gained through international trade. He simply looked at me and said, where do you think the jobs are? That memory helps me to this day in my job as an economics professor.

 

​I had such a great political run in the 1990's. I defeated two incumbents, and served in both the Maine House and the Maine Senate. I and earned a Ph.D. in 2000.  That was the same year that I married Jennifer Peternel.  She is a wonderful person and a great mother to our son Brett and our daughter Grace. Brett is a senior at Bonny Eagle.  Grace is a singer-songwriter, working on a degree at Belmont University in Nashville.

   

My positions at St. Joseph's, Colby, and Thomas were dream jobs. Most of my 31 years in higher education have been spent as a professor. I was also an academic dean at Thomas College for three years, from 2013 through 2015.  I have been at Thomas now for a total of 23 years, only returning to politics once my children got older.

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I am asking you for your vote in 2026.  What you will find is that I never say anything negative about other people. It's just not me. I'd rather let my positions do the talking, and be as diplomatic as the people that I once admired. My goal is to win the day for conservatives while seeking an environment where the sides actually find ways to work together. To borrow a phrase from presidential candidates a century apart, what I offer Maine is a "return to normalcy." When Mainers choose a new Governor in 2026, I know that they will want someone who will be constructive, conscientious, respectful, and able. Please examine this website and my legislative voting record.  You won't be disappointed.

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Best wishes,

​Jim

​James D. Libby, P.h.D.

Maine State Senator

 

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