{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (born 1965)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Cynthia Dill |image = Cynthia Dill.jpg |state_senate = Maine |district = 7th |term_start = May 11, 2011 |term_end = December 6, 2012 |predecessor = Larry Bliss |successor = Rebecca Millett |state_house1 = Maine |district1 = 121st |term_start1 = December 1, 2006 |term_end1 = May 11, 2011 |predecessor1 = Constance Goldman |successor1 = Kim Monaghan-Derrig |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|1|6}} |birth_place = Carmel, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Democratic |spouse = Tom Clarke |education = University of Vermont {{small|(BA)}}<br>Northeastern University {{small|(JD)}} }} '''Cynthia Dill''' (born January 6, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician from Maine. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Maine House of Representatives and Maine Senate, representing the 7th district which is composed of South Portland, her hometown of Cape Elizabeth, and a small portion of Scarborough.
Dill was the 2012 Democratic nominee to replace outgoing senator Olympia Snowe and represent Maine in the United States Senate, but came in third in the general election behind former independent governor Angus King and Republican secretary of state Charlie Summers.
==Life, education, and career== Dill is married and has two children. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.
Dill is an adjunct instructor at Southern Maine Community College, a civil rights lawyer, and the director of the Common Cause Digital Democracy Project. She served on the Cape Elizabeth Town Council. While serving on the Town Council, Dill said her priority was to protect and support the state's businesses and natural resources and the elderly, disabled and children. She voted to support gay marriage and said she would "happily and without reservation" support it if the issue would come up again. She strongly supported education, saying, "I am committed to improving the education funding formula and more importantly making needed reforms to education as a whole."<ref name=Forecaster2010/>
==Maine House of Representatives==
===Elections=== Dill was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2006 to represent Maine's 121st House District, based in Cape Elizabeth. She defeated Republican nominee Jennifer Duddy 52%-48%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=313441 |title=ME State House 121 Race - Nov 07, 2006 |publisher=Our Campaigns |date= |accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref> In 2008, she won re-election to a second term with 61% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=457450 |title=ME State House 121 Race - Nov 04, 2008 |publisher=Our Campaigns |date= |accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref> In 2010, she won re-election to a third term with 58% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=710212 |title=ME State House 121 Race - Nov 02, 2010 |publisher=Our Campaigns |date= |accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref>
===Tenure=== She was a leading proponent of the Three Ring Binder Project, a nationally recognized private/public partnership that will bring high-speed Internet access to rural parts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cynthiadill.com/about_cynthia_dill.htm |title=Cynthia Dill for State Senate |publisher=Cynthiadill.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref>
===Committee assignments=== She served on the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary and the House Ethics Committees
==Maine Senate==
===Elections=== Following the resignation of State Senator Larry Bliss in 2011, Dill won a special election to replace Bliss, defeating former Republican state representative Louie Maietta 68%-32%.<ref>[http://www.pressherald.com/news/dill-wins-senate-race_2011-05-11.html Dill wins Senate race] ''Portland Press Herald'', May 11, 2011</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=733057 |title=ME State Senate 07 - Special Election Race - May 10, 2011 |publisher=Our Campaigns |date= |accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref>
===Tenure=== Dill is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage.<ref name=Forecaster2010>[http://www.theforecaster.net/content/s-election2010house121-100810 House District 121: Lusk challenges Dill in Cape Elizabeth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006121914/http://www.theforecaster.net/content/s-election2010house121-100810 |date=2011-10-06 }} ''The Forecaster'', October 6, 2010</ref> In November 2011, Dill formed a group, [https://web.archive.org/web/20111225014136/http://friendsofthemainewoods.org/ "The Friends of the Maine Woods"], to support Roxanne Quimby's bid to donate land to create a national park in the Millinocket region of Maine. The town council of Millinocket and the Maine State Legislature passed resolutions opposing the creation of the proposed national park.<ref name="Sambides Jr">{{cite news|url=http://bangordailynews.com/2011/11/22/news/portland/cape-elizabeth-state-senator-throws-weight-behind-quimbys-proposed-national-park/|title=Cape Elizabeth state senator forms group to promote Quimby's proposed national park|last=Sambides Jr|first=Nick|date=November 22, 2011|work=Bangor Daily News|accessdate=23 November 2011}}</ref>
===Committee assignments=== She served on the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.
==2012 U.S. Senate election== {{See also|2012 United States Senate election in Maine}} In January 2012, Dill announced that she would seek the Democratic Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate then held by incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe.<ref name="PDS">{{cite news|url=http://portlanddailysun.me/news/story/two-more-democrats-enter-race-unseat-sen-snowe|title=Two more Democrats enter race to unseat Sen. Snowe |date=January 21, 2012|work=Portland Daily Sun|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref>
Dill won a four-way Democratic Senate primary on June 12, 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sharon|first=Susan|title=Outspent & Less Well-Known, Dill Moves on to U.S. Senate General Election|url=http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/22250/Default.aspx|newspaper=Maine Public Broadcasting Network|date=June 13, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060142/http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/22250/Default.aspx|archivedate=March 4, 2016}}</ref> She faced Republican Charlie Summers, independent candidates Angus King and Danny Dalton, and Libertarian Party-affiliated independent Andrew Ian Dodge in the November election, in which King was victorious.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lederman|first=Josh|title=Dill, Summers win nominations for Snowe's Senate seat|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/116907-dill-summers-win-nominations-for-snowes-senate-seat/|newspaper=The Hill|date=June 13, 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * {{CongLinks | congbio= | votesmart=57558 | fec=S2ME00083 | congress= }}<!-- Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template: * [http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Cynthia_Dill.htm Issue positions and quotes] at On the Issues * -->
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Jean Hay Bright}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Maine<br>(Class 1)|years=2012}} {{s-aft|after=Zak Ringelstein}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dill, Cynthia}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Maine lawyers Category:Maine local politicians Category:Democratic Party Maine state senators Category:Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Category:Northeastern University School of Law alumni Category:Politicians from Cape Elizabeth, Maine Category:Southern Maine Community College faculty Category:University of Vermont alumni Category:Women state legislators in Maine Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century members of the Maine Legislature