Laurie Osher and Cheryl Golek for Maine State House
Our Revolution is proud to endorse two progressive champions for the Maine State House: Laurie Osher in House District 25 and Cheryl Golek in House District 99.
Laurie and Cheryl bring different experiences to public service, but they share something fundamental: a commitment to making government work for everyday people and ensuring that voices too often shut out of politics are heard in Augusta.
Laurie Osher — House District 25
Laurie Osher isn’t your typical politician. She’s a soil scientist, small business owner, environmental advocate, and proven progressive legislator who has spent her career bringing science, persistence, and grassroots values to the fight for a more just and sustainable Maine.
Before serving in the Legislature, Laurie worked as a soil and watershed scientist for the U.S. Forest Service and earned a PhD in Soil Science from UC Berkeley, where her research examined the role soils and land management can play in storing carbon. After moving to Orono, she eventually launched her own business helping building owners reduce heating costs and carbon emissions.
Laurie has brought that same problem-solving approach to the Maine Legislature. She has championed healthier soils and sustainable agriculture, confronted PFAS contamination, worked to protect Maine’s wetlands and environment, and pushed for responsible outdoor lighting that reduces energy waste while preserving Maine’s extraordinary dark skies.
Her advocacy goes well beyond environmental policy. Laurie has fought for fully funded public schools, healthcare for all, workers’ right to earn leave, services for adults with disabilities, LGBTQ+ civil rights, and tribal sovereignty. She supported efforts to help the Passamaquoddy at Sipayik access clean drinking water and restore the right of Maine tribes to self-govern.
As a founding leader of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, Progressive Women’s Caucus, and Jewish Legislators Caucus, Laurie has also worked to build coalitions around worker protections, human rights, and equality.
Laurie brings progressive conviction together with a scientist’s determination to dig into problems and find solutions — exactly the kind of leadership we need in Augusta.
Cheryl Golek — House District 99
brings something equally powerful to politics: the perspective of someone who knows firsthand what it means to struggle — and who turned those experiences into a determination to fight for people too often left behind.
Born and raised in the community she now represents, Cheryl grew up in generational poverty, experienced homelessness as a teenager, and spent more than half her life living in poverty. Those experiences have shaped her commitment to fighting poverty, expanding opportunity, and making sure people with lived experience have a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect them.
Cheryl also knows the challenges facing caregivers and families navigating long-term care. She and her longtime partner, Johanna, founded, an alternative model of care for people living with dementia — giving Cheryl decades of firsthand experience with caregiving and the systems families depend on.
She has taken those experiences with her to the Maine Legislature, bringing the voices of working people, caregivers, and Mainers to the halls of power.
That matters. We need lawmakers who don’t just talk about the challenges facing working families but understand those challenges and are willing to fight to change the systems that keep people from getting ahead.
Laurie Osher and Cheryl Golek show two paths to progressive leadership — one grounded in science and environmental advocacy, the other deeply shaped by lived experience with poverty and caregiving. Both understand that government can and should improve people’s lives.
Together, we can send these progressive champions back to Augusta to keep fighting for working people and a Maine that works for everyone.
When we organize, we win.
Our Revolution