Bob Neal Submitted photo

Party affiliation:

Democrat

Social media accounts
None listed

Occupation:
Retired farmer, teacher, journalist

Education:
BA, MA, University of Missouri – Kansas City

Community Organizations:
Former member and former chair, Mount Blue School Board; former member, New Sharon select board; former member, Maine Farm Bureau board of directors; Western Mountains Alliance; New Sharon Congregational Church, former deacon; deacon, Shorey Chapel (UCC)

Personal information (hobbies, etc.):
Like to travel, especially by rail, like to read newspapers, magazines, books, season ticketholder since 1997, University of Maine women’s basketball, like to garden and preserve almost all my vegetables.

Family status:
Widower, two adults sons

Years in the Legislature: None

Committee assignments (if elected):
Education, Agriculture, Inland fisheries

Q&A

Define what “success” would look like if you are elected to serve your district.
Success would be a measurable rise in the availability of well-paying jobs and a wider variety of good jobs in rural Maine. It would also be measurable by the number of times I work across across geographical and party lines to get thing done for Maine.

Characterize your view on public access to governmental business.
Public access to the workings of our government is a fundamental right. We need to be fully transparent in our dealings, and we need to follow the open meetings laws so our constituents can follow what we’re doing.