SACO, Maine — A Maine Senate candidate says someone mailed him a message of hate.
Justin Chenette, a Democrat who has served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, is running for Senate District 31 in Saco.
On Wednesday, though, he said he’s standing up for his rights as a gay man.
Chenette said that, when he checked his mail Wednesday morning, he found one of his own political ads mailed back to him.
On the mailing, a note read, “We do not support sodomites.”
Chenette took to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon to share the photo with his supporters.
“I know things like this shouldn’t bother me, but on some level it does,” he wrote.
In the post, he referenced an email sent this summer by York County Republican Chairman Jim Booth, who called Chenette “Little Justine” and urged someone from the party to run against him for the District 31 Senate seat.
Wednesday’s note could not be attributed, but Chenette would like to meet the person who sent it to him.
“I hope this individual gives me a call,” Chenette said. “Let’s have a conversation. Because I think if you get to know me, I’m not scary. I’m not a number in a spreadsheet I’m a real person. You don’t have to vote for me, but I want you to get a sense for me as a person.”
He ended his post Wednesday afternoon with the hashtag #WhenTheyGoLowWeGoHigh.
His opponent, Tim Sevigny, said the note on the flyer was deplorable.
Chanette’s post has hundreds of likes and shares on his Facebook page.