John Jenkins, the former mayor of Lewiston and then Auburn, will run for governor as an independent, according to a filing with the Maine Ethics Commission.
Jenkins, who has not yet publicly announced his campaign, filed as a privately financed candidate Monday.
In addition to separate stints as mayor of the Twin Cities, Jenkins is a former one-term Democratic state senator. He won the Senate District 21 seat against a Republican in 1996 to become Maine’s first African-American senator. In 2010, he ran as an independent write-in candidate for governor.
Jenkins, a Bates College graduate and accomplished martial artist, joins 18 other candidates running for governor in Maine in 2018. He is one of three independent candidates who have filed to run.
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