Linda M. Valentino (born 1956) is an American politician from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. Valentino is a Democratic

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

from

's 5th District, representing part of York County, including her residence of Saco. She was first elected to the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

in 2004 and re-elected in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Unable to run for re-election to the Maine House in 2012 due to term limits, Valentino ran in the Democratic primary for the open District 5 State Senate seat to replace fellow Democrat

Barry Hobbins Barry J. Hobbins (born May 17, 1951) is an American lawyer, politician and is the current Public Advocate of Maine. A Democrat, he served in the Maine House of Representatives, representing part of Saco. As a State Senator, he represented severa ...

. Valentino won the nomination by beating fellow State Representative Donald Pilon. Valentino easily won the general election, defeating Timothy Sevigny. In December 2012, Valentino was named Chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Personal

Valentino was born in 1956 in Maine. She is married to Curtis Scamman and has three children. She first entered politics in 1979 when she was elected to the Saco City Council. She served on the Council until 1985, including a stint as deputy mayor. She graduated from the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston in the U.S. state of Maine. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universitie ...

in 1976 with an Associate of Arts in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from USM in 2004.

References

1956 births Living people University of Southern Maine alumni Maine city council members Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Democratic Party Maine state senators People from Saco, Maine Women state legislators in Maine Women city councillors in Maine 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians {{Maine-politician-stub