NAPLES — In his seventh bid for the District 68 seat in the state House of Representatives, incumbent Rich Cebra, a Republican, will face Independent Pat Scully at the ballot box in November.

District 68 includes Naples and Sebago, as well as Baldwin, Cornish and Parsonsfield.

Cebra is currently serving his sixth, nonconsecutive term in the House.

Both candidates are traditionally funded through individual contributions and political action committees.

Cebra

Cebra’s biggest concern is “getting government out of people’s way,” he said in an interview last week.

Not only will that allow people to “prosper,” Cebra said, it is also the key to the state’s ability to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

“I think a lot of the recovering is going to come from consistently doing what I’ve done for the last six times (in office) … I’m in favor of reducing the tax (rate) for the people in Maine and reducing regulations.”

Cebra added that he will continue to work on both the “big projects” and the “smaller picture,” from large infrastructure initiatives, such as the $9 million Naples Causeway update project that was completed in 2012, to working with constituents.

Since being elected in 2004, Cebra said that he’s “trying to bring the Lakes Region the prosperity it deserves. It’s such a cool place.”

Scully

In what would be his first time holding an elected office, Scully hopes to focus on economic development, which he said is particularly important to the rural western part of Maine.

“(We need to) try and identify skill sets needed for the next generation of jobs, training our young people to encourage our business investment and creation jobs in this part of the state,” he said.

The need for economic development goes hand-in-hand with the impacts of the pandemic, Scully said.

“I think the most important thing is to draw on all of our resources to avoid cuts to the most needed resources for (the) Maine people … making sure we’re continuing to support unemployment for people who have lost their jobs due to COVID and making sure that we’re protecting basic state services,” he said.

Education, jobs and health care are “all related to having a healthy economy,” Scully said in an interview last week, from strengthening technical training opportunities for high school students to providing rural health care providers with the resources they need to keep their doors open.

And as an independent, he added, “I truly intend to behave like an independent, I want to reach across the aisle and avoid partisan bickering.”

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