LISBON — Two Democrats are facing off in a primary Tuesday to claim the right to challenge Rep. Rick Mason, a Republican, in the general election this fall.

“I want to get back involved in the community,” said one of them, Martha Poliquin, a former Lisbon school board member.

Poliquin, 62, is taking on Scott Gaiason, 72, who has served as the party’s unsuccessful standard bearer in the past two 56th District House elections, first against Gina Mason in 2016 and then, after her death in 2017, against her husband.

Gaiason, an Army veteran who worked in many fields over the years, calls himself “independent and frugal,” a typical Mainer.

Voters in Lisbon will face a number of choices on the ballot Tuesday in addition to the legislative primary. They will also make choices in gubernatorial primaries for both parties, a congressional among Democrats, a ballot question about ranked-choice voting and a school budget measure.

Gaiason said that until Bernie Sanders came along in the 2016 presidential race, he had been like many people when it comes to politics. “I would vote and complain,” he said.

When Sanders came up short, Gaiason noted that the Vermont senator called for his supporters to get involved themselves, to run for office and try to make a difference.

So he did.

Gaiason said he discovered that he enjoyed campaigning because it gave him a chance to talk with all sorts of people in town and hear their stories. Though the Masons defeated him at the polls, he said he thinks he “a little steam behind me” and the third time may be the charm.

Poliquin, a school nutrition director who raised three children in town with her husband Joseph, said she’s also keen to hear what people have to say.

“I’m a listener. I’m a collaborator. And I’m a hard worker,” she said.

Poliquin said that Rick Mason “does not speak for enough members of our community.” She said she hopes to be the voice for everyone.

Gaiason, who got 43 percent of the vote in the special election last November against Mason, said he hopes the town’s voters are ready to select a legislator who is more than “a placeholder.”

Poliquin said that Lisbon “is going through some exciting growth right now,” and as its representative she vowed to work with both the town council and the school board “to make sure Augusta is helping our town, not hurting it.”

She said the past eight years under the leadership of Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, have pushed up property taxes and left education with too little funding. Both are issues she plans to tackle.

Gaiason readily admits he’s not one to follow a straight path.

“At 72, I’m still, like John Lennon, a dreamer,” he said.

He said he’s had “multiple journeys” through his life after a four-year stint in the U.S. Army back in the 1960s. They include a couple of marriages, a wide variety of jobs, a range of college courses, operating shops, learning to weld, constructing scientific equipment and homes everywhere from Boston to Oregon.

“People are afraid of change,” Gaiason said, “but change is the only thing that’s constant.”

Poliquin, who has lived in Lisbon for more than three decades, raised three children who attended public schools and graduated from Lisbon High School. In those years, she was a steady volunteer in the schools a leader of both Cub Scout and Girl Scout groups.

She served on the Lisbon school board from 1995 to 2001, including several years as its chair.

Poliquin has worked in the school nutrition field for 20 years.

Poliquin and Gaiason each said they have no problem with each other.

scollins@sunjournal.com

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