Sangerville man announces bid for U.S. Congress

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    SANGERVILLE — A U.S. Navy Reserve officer from Sangerville is the latest Democratic candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Michael Michaud.

    Michaud, who has served in Congress since 2003, announced last week that he will run for governor in 2014. Maine Senate Majority Troy Jackson of Aroostook County and State Sen. Emily Cain of Orono announced earlier this year that they would seek Michaud’s seat if he decided to throw his hat into the gubernatorial ring.
    Alden Smith, 31, is a Foxcroft Academy graduate who played varsity football, baseball and hockey and was a member of the National Honor Society.
    He earned a Navy ROTC scholarship to Vanderbilt University where he graduated in 2004 and was commissioned as an officer.
    Smith served on the submarine Pittsburgh and in the African country of Djibouti as liaison to U.S. Naval Forces Africa. He later served as the security assistance officer at the U.S. embassy in Kigali, Rwanda where he oversaw the distribution of U.S. aid to the Rwandese Defense Force.
    He is currently a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves and pursuing a master’s degree at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
    In a prepared statement, Smith said that one reason he’s running is because “there are too many Congressmen today who have turned their backs on America’s middle class, whose only objective is to help the wealthy become wealthier, and whose support of large corporate profit is bent on extracting as much as possible out of the American economy. But I refuse to allow their selfishness and their pettiness to tear down those institutions I have dedicated my life to uphold.”
    Smith left for two weeks of active duty training in Korea on Aug. 15 as part of the United States-Republic of Korea “Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2013” exercise.