Off to a great start!
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
Thank you to everyone who turned out today to support my announcement for mayor! I was humbled by the encouragement from such a wide range of people, and I look forward to earning that support with my campaign for Portland on the Rise!
Carmona joins Portland mayoral race
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail
First published June 27, 2011, Portland Press Herald
By Edward D. Murphy
Staff Writer
PORTLAND — Ralph Carmona, vice chair of the city’s Democratic Party, is joining 15 other candidates for mayor.
Carmona, who is also an instructor at the University of Southern Maine, plans to announce formally on Wednesday.
That will make him one of 16 candidates to register with the city, a step that allows them to raise money and set up campaign organizations.
Candidates can begin taking out petitions to gather signatures for a place on the ballot on Friday. Those petitions can be returned in the latter half of August.
Hispanic activist to announce mayoral bid
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail
First published June 28, 2011, in Portland Daily Sun
By Casey Conley
– THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
Ralph Carmona, a longtime political activist and former Bank of America lobbyist, is holding a press conference tomorrow announcing his candidacy for Portland mayor.
The event will include speeches from Carmona and several supporters and the unveiling of his campaign theme, “Portland on the Rise.” It will be held in Room 5 in Portland Public Library at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Carmona, who moved to Portland last year from Sacramento, says he’ll focus his campaign on fostering a sustainable local economy, improving quality of life for city residents and maintaining responsive, and open government.
“We need a mayor who listens, and who can get things done,” said Carmona, who is currently the Portland President of the League of United Latino American Citizens and vice chair of the city’s Democratic Committee.
Carmona says he has a long history of bringing people together and fighting for specific causes, including civil rights issues and immigration reform.
Although he hasn’t yet registered with the city as a candidate, Carmona, 60, says he will file paperwork after the press conference.
According to the city, 15 people have already registered as candidates for the race, which will be decided on Nov. 8.
Carmona and his wife, Vana, moved to Portland last year from California, where he worked as a teacher, activist and an executive and lobbyist for companies like Sacremento Municipal Utility District and Bank of America.
If elected as Portland’s mayor, he says he’ll become its “chief lobbyist” in Augusta and Washington, D.C.
Carmona has also worked for Hispanic organizations such as the Sacremento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and served on various state boards, including the University of California Board of Regents.
He has lectured in political science at various institutions, including the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at University of Southern California, his alma mater, and the Osher Center for Lifelong Learning, at University of Southern Maine.
Carmona’s wife, Vana, is from the Portland area, and he said they chose to move to Portland last year because they believed they could “make a difference.” Carmona says he had no intention of running for mayor before moving here.
“We chose (Portland) because we love the city and because we want to make a difference,” he said in an interview. He added, “This is our home for the rest of our lives.”
Carmona notes that substantial percentage of Portland’s 66,000 residents are from away, a fact he says could help him in this fall’s election. Residency history aside, he believes his message of bringing people together will resonate equally with longtime Mainers and newcomers.
“If you have been around long enough, you are able to see things and understand things and do things quickly. And people have seen that,” he said. “You will see people who have lived in Maine all their lives who will be more concerned with, ‘What is this person going to do for me?’ and ‘What is this person going to do for Portland?’”
The November mayoral election will be Portland’s first in nearly 80 years. Voters last fall approved changes to the city charter that converted the one-year, largely ceremonial mayoral post into a four-year elected position with more authority, including veto power over the budget.
The new position also comes with a significant pay increase: The person who is elected mayor will earn about $66,000, compared to about $7,200 now.
Although he’s an officer with the city Democratic Party, Carmona says he’s getting no support from the local party establishment.
Indeed, he joins a race loaded with high-profile Democrats, including Mayor Nick Mavodones, Councilor Jill Duson and former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Brennan.
Others who have registered as a candidate for mayor include: Councilor Dave Marshall, Charles Bragdon, Erick Bennett, Zouhair Bouzrara, Jed Rathband, Jodie Lapchick, Christopher Vail, Peter Bryant, Markos Miller, Paul Schafer, Richard Dodge, and Hamza Haadoow.
Registering with the city allows candidates to form committees and raise money. Candidate petitions, which require between 350 and 500 signatures, are available July 1.
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Carmona for Mayor
P.O. Box 15111
Portland, ME 04112-
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