Rachel Talbot Ross | |
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104th Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives | |
Assumed office December 7, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Ryan Fecteau |
Member of the Maine House of Representatives | |
Assumed office December 7, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Chad Wayne Grignon |
Constituency | 118th district |
In office December 7, 2016 – December 7, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Ben Chipman |
Succeeded by | Stanley Zeigler |
Constituency | 40th district |
Personal details | |
Born | 1961 (age 62–63) |
Political party | Democratic |
Parent | Gerald Talbot |
Education | American University Wesleyan University |
Rachel Talbot Ross is an American politician and activist. A Democrat from Portland, Talbot has been the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives since December 2022. When she was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2016, Talbot Ross became the first Black woman to serve in the Maine Legislature. Talbot Ross represents District 40, consisting of the Parkside, Bayside, East Bayside, and Oakdale neighborhoods of Portland as well as the University of Southern Maine campus. She became Maine's first African-American House Speaker, and the highest-ranking African-American politician in Maine history, when she was elected speaker on December 7, 2022.[1]