Westbrook, MAINE - The Maine Democratic Party (MDP) announced today that it has hired veteran campaign organizer Sam Kraus as its Field Director for the 2018 campaign season. Kraus comes to MDP after having served as Regional Organizing Director for Hillary for America in Ohio. Prior to that he worked on several organizing campaigns across the country.

As Field Director, Kraus will manage the Maine Democratic Party’s statewide coordinated field effort, which includes leading a growing team of MDP grassroots organizers in every county across the state who will work to increase voter-turnout for this year’s election cycle.

“We are thrilled to have Sam join us as we continue to invest more of our resources into our field effort earlier than we ever have before,” said Katie Mae Simpson, Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party. “We’re building a strong organization, and I know Sam has the experience and skills to ensure that our field program will be the best around and help lead us to victory this November.”

“I could not be more excited to join the Maine Democratic Party and to help lead this year’s field efforts,”  said Kraus. “It’s clear that Maine people are ready to turn the page on the failed leadership of Republicans like Paul LePage and Bruce Poliquin, and as the Field Director, I look forward to working hard every day to put in place a strong ground game that will put Democrats back into office where we will continue to fight to make Maine a stronger, fairer, more prosperous state.”

Under the leadership of Chairman Phil Bartlett and Executive Director Katie Mae Simpson, the Maine Democratic Party had made it a top priority to build a strong organization focused on electing Democrats year-round. For example, in addition to its Augusta headquarters, MDP has within the past several months opened offices in Westbrook, Dover-Foxcroft, and Brewer and intends to open even more offices across the state. It has also hired additional staff, including Communications Director Scott Ogden and Press Secretary Chris Glynn and is investing in hiring grassroots organizers for all of Maine’s sixteen counties.

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