Meet Ryan
Speaker Ryan Fecteau is serving his first term as Speaker of the House and fourth term in the Maine House of Representatives, representing part of his hometown of Biddeford.
Fecteau is both the youngest presiding officer in the United States and first openly gay Speaker in Maine’s history.
As Speaker of the House, he is responsible for presiding over all actions of the House of Representatives. In his service to the state, he has also chaired the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee and served a term as Assistant Majority Leader.
Speaker Fecteau is focused on being a strong voice for older Mainers, standing up for public education and making Maine more attractive for young people to work, live and raise a family.
Throughout his time in the Legislature, he has led on issues related to securing full equality for all Maine people. In the 129th Legislature, Fecteau succeeded at banning the harmful practice of conversion therapy in Maine. He is also a previous recipient of the Youth Innovator of the Year award from The Trevor Project, a group focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth.
Fecteau has been a champion for career and technical education (CTE) and sponsored legislation to allow Maine’s 28 CTE schools to make long-overdue investments in equipment and capital projects. He believes a serious investment is necessary to both address our workforce issues and give young people the hard skills they need to find good-paying jobs right here in Maine.
Maine is facing a crisis as it relates to affordable housing, with both our older residents and our working families unable to find secure housing. That’s why Fecteau proposed a bill to provide state income tax breaks to trigger investment in affordable and workforce housing projects, a crucial incentive to address this issue. As Speaker, he is committed to ensuring that all Mainers are adequately and affordably housed.
Speaker Fecteau graduated from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is the son and grandson of French-Canadian immigrants and was raised by a single mother. Fecteau is the first member of his family to graduate from college. He currently works as an account executive at a data firm and is the proud owner of a mostly well-behaved goldendoodle named Pancake.
