Off to a great start!

June 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
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!

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LULAC leader ponders mayoral bid

May 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona 

By David Carkhuff
May 21, 2011 – THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

Ralph Carmona says if a kid from East Los Angeles can get elected as mayor of the largest city in Maine, “that will be a major statement about Maine and about Portland.”

Carmona is weighing a run for mayor of Portland in the Nov. 8 election. Vice chair of the Portland Democrat City Committee and president of the Portland council for this nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization – the League of United Latin American Citizens ­– Carmona said he will announce his decision at the start of June.

“I don’t think name recognition is a factor, because historically the turnout in city elections is very low key,” Carmona said. “The key is going to be in reaching out to people and creating an interest.”

In 2010, before moving to Maine, Carmona served as an advisor to the Sacramento County District Attorney and on numerous California regional community, civic and business associations. More recently, he was the lead organizer for a March 31, 2011 Maine LULAC Observance for Cesar Chavez and was Chair of the PDCC Truman Democrat Dinner Fundraiser on May 13.

Being a relative newcomer to Portland politics may be an asset, Carmona said.

“The frustration that many people have in Portland, I’m talking about progressives and conservatives and people of an independent mind, is the city is part of the existing political establishment,” he said.

“I’m going to be focused on reaching out to folks,” he said.

Carmona served almost 30 years as a public affairs executive for Bank of America and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

During the 1970s, Carmona was a legislative assistant to California Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy and as an intern for U.S. House of Representative Edward Roybal. He is presently a member of Portland Police Chief’s Community Police Advisory Board, the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Association Board of Directors and has served as a strategic advisor for the Centro Latino Maine, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine League of Young Voters and Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition.

A member of the Portland NAACP, he and his wife, Vana, are members of the Portland Trails, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Maine Natural Resources Council, Maine Historical Society and Friends of Eastern Promenade.
They live on Munjoy Hill in Portland and have five adult children between them.

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