Alexander Willette
Alexander Reginald Willette (b. April 2, 1989) is a former Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives, representing District 7 from 2010 to 2014. Willette, who had already declined to run for re-election, resigned on September 5, 2014, due to professional commitments as well as his work as the spokesman for Gov. Paul LePage's (R) re-election committee.[1]
Willete was also elected in 2013 to serve as the national committeeman for the Republican Party of Maine. He was re-elected to a four-year term in 2016.[2][3]
Biography
Education
Willette earned his B.S. from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2011. His professional experience includes working as a realtor.[4]
Career summary
Willette's professional experience includes serving as the assistant district attorney for the state of Maine and as the national committeeman for the Republican Party of Maine. He began working as an associate broker at Big Bear Real Estate in 2008. From 2014 to 2015 he was the director of legislative affairs and communications for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. He was the director of communications and coalitions for the LePage 2014 campaign. He was a state representative in the Maine House of Representatives from 2010 to 2014, serving as assistant republican leader from 2012 to 2014.[2]
Committee assignments
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Willette served on the following committees:
| Maine committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Rules and Business of the House |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Willette served on the following committees:
| Maine committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Leaves of Absence |
| • Transportation |
| • Veterans and Legal Affairs |
Elections
2014
State House
Elections for the Maine House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 10, 2014, and a general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for party candidates wishing to run in this election was March 17, 2014. The deadline for write-in candidates to run in the primary election was April 28, 2014, and the deadline for non-party candidates to run in the general election was June 2, 2014. The deadline for write-in candidates to run in the general election was September 22, 2014. Troy Haines was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Alexander Willette was unopposed in the Republican primary but withdrew afterwards and was replaced by Dustin White. Jacqueline Lundeen withdrew before the Republican primary. White defeated Haines in the general election.[5][6][7][8]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Dustin White |
51.1% | 2,070 | |
| Democratic | Troy Haines | 44.2% | 1,793 | |
| None | Blank Votes | 4.7% | 190 | |
| Total Votes | 4,053 | |||
U.S. House
Willette planned to run in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Maine's 2nd District.[9] Willette would have sought the Republican nomination in the primary. He withdrew from the race, announcing he was suspending his campaign, on August 28, 2013.[10]
“I want to do what is best for my party and at this time I believe my resources and energy will be better spent helping Republicans win Maine’s 2nd, working to keep the governor’s mansion and retaking the majority in the legislature. Therefore, I will be suspending my campaign for the 2nd Congressional District as of today,” Willette wrote in an email to supporters.[10]
2012
Willette won re-election in the 2012 election for Maine House of Representatives District 5. Willette ran unopposed in the June 12 Republican primary and defeated Robert Saucier (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[11][12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Alexander Willette Incumbent |
52.4% | 2,005 | |
| Democratic | Troy Haines | 47.6% | 1,824 | |
| Total Votes | 3,829 | |||
2010
Willette's opponent in the November 2 general election was Troy Haines. Willette defeated Haines by 247 votes.[13]
| Maine House of Representatives General Election, District 7 (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Alexander Willette (R)
|
1,657 | 53% | ||
| Troy Haines (D) | 1,410 | 45% | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
| Alexander Willette | |
| Republican National Convention, 2016 | |
| Status: | RNC Delegate |
| State: | Maine |
| Bound to: | Unknown |
| Delegates to the RNC 2016 | |
| Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state | |
Willette was an RNC delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Maine.[14] In Maine’s caucuses on March 5, 2016, Ted Cruz won 12 delegates, Donald Trump won nine, and John Kasich won two. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Willette was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Maine’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[15]
RNC Rules Committee
- See also: RNC Rules Committee, 2016
Willette was a member of the RNC Rules Committee, a 112-member body responsible for crafting the official rules of the Republican Party, including the rules that governed the 2016 Republican National Convention.[16]
According to The Washington Post, Willette was a member of a pro-Trump "study committee" focused on "quashing any effort to unbind delegates" at the national convention. Other members of the study committee from the Rules Committee included Vincent DeVito of Massachusetts, Demetra DeMonte of Illinois, and Bill Palatucci of New Jersey.[17]
Appointment process
The convention Rules Committee in 2016 consisted of one male and one female delegate from each state and territorial delegation. The Rules of the Republican Party required each delegation to elect from its own membership representatives to serve on the Rules Committee.
Delegate rules
Delegates from Maine to the Republican National Convention were elected at the state convention in April 2016. Maine GOP bylaws stipulated that delegates were to be bound to the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention. If a candidate withdrew prior to the convention, his or her delegates were to become unbound.
Maine caucus results
- See also: Presidential election in Maine, 2016
| Maine Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Ted Cruz |
45.9% | 8,550 | 12 | |
| Donald Trump | 32.6% | 6,070 | 9 | |
| John Kasich | 12.2% | 2,270 | 2 | |
| Marco Rubio | 8% | 1,492 | 0 | |
| Ben Carson | 0.7% | 132 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.3% | 55 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.3% | 58 | 0 | |
| Totals | 18,627 | 23 | ||
| Source: The New York Times | ||||
Delegate allocation
Maine was expected to have 23 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, six were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's two congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's district delegates.[18][19]
Of the remaining 17 delegates, 14 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[18][19]
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Willette is married to his wife, Melissa.[4]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Alexander + Willette + Maine + Legislature
See also
- Maine State Legislature
- Maine House of Representatives
- House Committees
- Joint Committees
- Maine state legislative districts
External links
- Profile from Open States
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign contributions: 2012, 2010
- Alexander Willette Facebook profile
- Alexander Willette LinkedIn profile
Footnotes
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Alex Willette resigns Maine House leadership position," September 5, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 LinkedIn, "Alexander Willette," accessed April 25, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia Staff, "Phone interview with Maine Republican Party staff," June 18, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Maine Legislature, "Alexander Reginald Willette," accessed September 5, 2014
- ↑ Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "List of Primary Candidates," accessed May 8, 2014
- ↑ Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "List of Non-Party Candidates," accessed June 2, 2014
- ↑ Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "Primary Election - June 10, 2014," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "General Election - November 4, 2014," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrun - ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsuspend - ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "2012 Candidate List," accessed May 14, 2012
- ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "Tabulations for Elections held in 2012," accessed March 19, 2014
- ↑ Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "Official 2010 Election Results," accessed February 18, 2014
- ↑ ME GOP, "Master List: National Convention Delegates and Delegate Alternates," April 24, 2016
- ↑ To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's list of 2016 RNC Rules Committee members is based on an official list from the Republican National Committee obtained by Ballotpedia on June 24, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Who will show up? Who will pay? The many unknowns of the GOP convention," June 29, 2016
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Patricia Sutherland (D) |
Maine House of Representatives District 7 2010–2014 |
Succeeded by TBA |
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