Geoffrey Gratwick

Geoffrey Gratwick is an American politician and physician from Maine. Gratwick is a Democrat State Senator from Maine's 32nd District, representing part of Penobscot County, including the City of Bangor and the neighboring town of Hermon. Prior to being elected to the Maine Senate, Gratwick served 9 years on the Bangor City Council.^[1]

2012 campaign

In 2012, he won a hotly contested race and beat incumbent Republican Nichi Farnham to become State Senator. The Gratwick-Farnham race had the most outside spending of any State Senate race in Maine in 2012, with more than $450,000 of combined outside spending. Gratwick's win was one of several races in which a Democrat defeated an incumbent Republican, which helped the Democrats win a majority in the State Senate after losing it in 2010.^[2] A physician, he attended Harvard University, Cambridge University, Cornell University and Columbia Medical School.^[1]

2014 campaign

On September 9, 2014, the Maine Republican Party released a recording of Gratwick stating that Democratic candidate for Governor Rep. Mike Michaud was "not a brain guy". The released recording, apparently made by someone identified only as "Jim", seemed to be part of a larger one, but the Maine GOP declined to release the unedited tape, citing concern the person who made the recording could be identified. They further stated the release was made to show "dissension in the ranks" of Maine Democrats regarding Michaud. Gratwick stated in response that he apologized and supports Michaud "200 percent" and his comments were taken out of context.^[3]

In November 2014, Gratwick was re-elected to the Maine Senate, defeating former Bangor Mayor Cary Weston. Gratwick won a majority of the votes in Bangor, while Weston won the smaller town of Hermon.^[4]

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