Cynthia Dill

Cynthia Dill
Dill in 2011
Member of the Maine Senate
from the 7th district
In office
May 11, 2011 – December 6, 2012
Preceded byLarry Bliss
Succeeded byRebecca Millett
Member of the Maine House of Representatives
from the 121st district
In office
December 1, 2006 – May 11, 2011
Preceded byConstance Goldman
Succeeded byKim Monaghan-Derrig
Personal details
Born (1965-01-06) January 6, 1965
Carmel, New York, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
SpouseTom Clarke
EducationUniversity of Vermont (BA)
Northeastern University (JD)

Cynthia Ann Dill (born January 6, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician from Maine. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Maine House of Representatives and Maine Senate, representing the 7th district which is composed of South Portland, her hometown of Cape Elizabeth, and a small portion of Scarborough.

Dill was the 2012 Democratic nominee to replace outgoing senator Olympia Snowe and represent Maine in the United States Senate, but came in third in the general election behind former independent governor Angus King and Republican secretary of state Charlie Summers.

Early life and career

Dill was born in Carmel, New York and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. She participated in legal internships in Brunswick and Augusta before settling in Cape Elizabeth.[1] She is married and has two children.

Dill is an adjunct instructor at Southern Maine Community College, a civil rights lawyer, and the director of the Common Cause Digital Democracy Project.

Political career

Cape Elizabeth Town Council

Tenure

While serving on the Cape Elizabeth Town Council, Dill said her priority was to protect and support the state's businesses and natural resources and the elderly, disabled and children. She voted to support gay marriage and said she would "happily and without reservation" support it if the issue would come up again. She strongly supported education, saying, "I am committed to improving the education funding formula and more importantly making needed reforms to education as a whole."[2]

Maine House of Representatives

Elections

Dill was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2006 to represent Maine's 121st House District, based in Cape Elizabeth. She defeated Republican nominee Jennifer Duddy 52%-48%.[3] In 2008, she won re-election to a second term with 61% of the vote.[4] In 2010, she won re-election to a third term with 58% of the vote.[5]

Committee assignments

She served on the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary and the House Ethics Committees

Maine Senate

Elections

Following the resignation of State Senator Larry Bliss in 2011, Dill won a special election to replace Bliss, defeating former Republican state representative Louie Maietta 68%-32%.[6][7]

Tenure

Dill is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage.[2] In November 2011, Dill formed a group, "The Friends of the Maine Woods", to support Roxanne Quimby's bid to donate land to create a national park in the Millinocket region of Maine. The town council of Millinocket and the Maine State Legislature passed resolutions opposing the creation of the proposed national park.[8]

Committee assignments

She served on the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.

2012 U.S. Senate election

In January 2012, Dill announced that she would seek the Democratic Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate then held by incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe.[9]

Dill won a four-way Democratic Senate primary on June 12, 2012.[10] She faced Republican Charlie Summers, independent candidates Angus King and Danny Dalton, and Libertarian Party-affiliated independent Andrew Ian Dodge in the November election, in which King was victorious.[11]

Post-political career

In 2013, Dill joined Portland law firm Troubh Heisler.[12]

She served as the attorney for George Loder, a former Maine State Police trooper and whistleblower who successfully sued the force for violating the state's whistleblower protection law and was awarded $300,000 in damages in October 2022.[13]

In September 2025, Dill wrote a letter to the editor published in the Portland Press Herald agreeing with Donald Trump's anti-transgender views, writing "Transsexual people have been around forever and society accepted the deviation from the norm as just that, as it should today, with compassion and protection under the law... Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Donald Trump is right about gender ideology. It doesn’t belong in Maine schools."[14] She filed a lawsuit in April 2026 on behalf of a Maine Correctional Center inmate against Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty and warden Ben Beal for housing a transgender prisoner who allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed other inmates.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Sharp, David (October 8, 2012). "Maine's 6 Senate hopefuls all hail from elsewhere". CNBC. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  2. 1 2 House District 121: Lusk challenges Dill in Cape Elizabeth Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine The Forecaster, October 6, 2010
  3. ↑ "ME State House 121 Race - Nov 07, 2006". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  4. ↑ "ME State House 121 Race - Nov 04, 2008". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  5. ↑ "ME State House 121 Race - Nov 02, 2010". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  6. ↑ Dill wins Senate race Portland Press Herald, May 11, 2011
  7. ↑ "ME State Senate 07 - Special Election Race - May 10, 2011". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  8. ↑ Sambides Jr, Nick (November 22, 2011). "Cape Elizabeth state senator forms group to promote Quimby's proposed national park". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  9. ↑ "Two more Democrats enter race to unseat Sen. Snowe". Portland Daily Sun. January 21, 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Sharon, Susan (June 13, 2012). "Outspent & Less Well-Known, Dill Moves on to U.S. Senate General Election". Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  11. ↑ Lederman, Josh (June 13, 2012). "Dill, Summers win nominations for Snowe's Senate seat". The Hill.
  12. ↑ "Newsworthy people and performances". MaineBiz. February 18, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  13. ↑ Harrison, Judy (December 5, 2022). "Jury awards former Maine trooper $300K in whistleblower case". Police1. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  14. ↑ Dill, Cynthia (September 10, 2025). "Gender ideology does not belong in Maine schools Letter". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  15. ↑ LaFlamme, Mark (April 3, 2026). "Inmate at women's prison files suit over housing of transgender prisoner". Sun Journal (Maine). Retrieved July 9, 2026.
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