Louis Luchini

Luchini helped the Ellsworth Cross Country team win state championships in both 1996 and 1998.[3] As a junior, he placed 11th in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and as a senior, he placed second.[3] He graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1999.[4]

Luchini was recruited to run for Stanford University and majored in human biology, intending to pursue a career in medicine.[5][4] The Stanford team won NCAA Division I cross country championships in both 2002 and 2003, winning the 2003 contest by 150 points.[3] Luchini earned 11 All-America citations at Stanford.[3] He finished fifth at the 2002 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, sixth at the 2003 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, and 37th at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Junior men's race.[3] He graduated from Stanford in 2004.[6]

After graduation, Luchini signed a professional running contract with Nike. In 2004 and 2008, he competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials.[7][3] In 2009, Luchini returned to Maine and worked as an assistant coach to the Ellsworth High School cross country team, assuming the role of head coach in 2015. In 2018, the girls' team won a state title for the first time in 40 years.[5][3] In August 2020, Luchini was named to the Maine Running Hall of Fame.[3]

In the 2010 Maine House District 38 race, Luchini defeated Republican Michael Povich 54%-46%. In 2012, he ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and won against Republican Matthew Foster 61.5%-38.5% in the general election. Luchini beat Republican R. Frederick Ehrlenbach in the 2014 House District 132 general election—Maine had undergone redistricting and re-numbering of its legislative districts—62%-38%, and in 2016 he defeated Republican David Edsall 63%-37%.[8] During his time in the House, Luchini served as the House Chair of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee and as chair of the House Ethics Committee. In 2017, he was named Legislator of the Year by the American Legion.[4]

In late March 2018, Luchini announced that he would run as a Clean Elections candidate for Maine Senate District 7.[9] He defeated fellow Democrat Ian Schwartz 68%-32% in the Democratic primary, and beat Republican Richard Malaby in the general election 64%-36%. In 2020, Luchini ran unopposed in the Senate District 7 Democratic primary and defeated Republican Brian Langley, who had preceded Luchini in both his House and Senate seats, 55%-45%.[8] He serves on the Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business committee and is the chair of the Veterans and Legal Affairs committee.[10] On 18 January 2022, Luchini announced his resignation in order to take a job as an advocate within the United States Small Business Administration.[11]

In 2017, Luchini supported a bill to restore Maine's tipped minimum wage[12] and sponsored legislation to extend Maine's deadline for legalizing adult possession of marijuana.[13]

In 2018, he introduced a bill increasing regulations for signature-gatherers on citizen ballot initiatives,[14] and voted in favor[15] of a $45 million tax break for Bath Ironworks.[16] He also voted to uphold Governor Paul LePage's veto of a bill that would have allowed Bar Harbor to establish a port authority.[17]

In 2019, Luchini voted to uphold religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements, amending a proposed new law to eliminate all but medical exemptions for school attendance statewide.[18]

In 2020 and 2021, he introduced legislation to legalize and regulate sports betting in Maine.[19]