Elected to the Maine Legislature in a special election on January 11, Jim Boyle thanked voters of Gorham and Scarborough “for turning out to vote on a day that started out at five degrees and ended up one below zero.”
Boyle, who served one term as state senator seven years ago, decided to run for District 27 representative when Kyle Bailey resigned in October. “In about ten weeks I talked with hundreds of voters,” he said, “and I appreciate all the feedback I received.”
A Democrat, he won 57% of the vote in a three-way race. He was sworn in on January 18 and will fill the remaining year of the two-year term.
Boyle, 63, graduated from the University of Maine in 1981 with a B.S. in forest management. “I worked as a forester in the North Maine woods early in my career, did some surveying, and then started my environmental consulting business in 1996.”
He is the owner of Environmental Permitting & Inspection, LLC. Boyle served as president of the Maine Association of Wetland Scientists and is on the Board of the Efficiency Maine Trust.
In Augusta he will “look to support bills related to pandemic safety, renewable energy, energy efficiency, improvement to child protective services, and tribal sovereignty.”
“Because of the beautiful woods, fields and water, we moved to Gorham from South Portland twelve years ago,” Boyle said. He and his wife Sue Durst live in a log home on the Presumpscot River with two dogs and a cat. He has two children and two step children. Four grandchildren live within 50 miles of Gorham. “Most of our free time includes them,” he said. “We have a little dock on the river and spend a lot of time on the water.”