Hillary Clinton kicks off Maine campaign effort

Hillary Clinton waves to supporters at a political rally in Scarborough last October. BDN file photo by Troy R. Bennett.

Hillary Clinton waves to supporters at a political rally in Scarborough last October. BDN file photo by Troy R. Bennett.

Hillary Clinton has hired a veteran Democratic campaign hand to kick off her presidential campaign effort here in Maine.

Chuck Quintero of Richmond will serve as Clinton’s “Maine Grassroots Organizer,” for what’s being described as the ramp-up portion of the former U.S. secretary of state’s 2016 presidential bid.

Quintero most recently led the Democrat’s coordinated campaign in 2014. He was chief of staff for Senate President Justin Alfond of Portland during the 126th Legislature, and ran the Democrats’ successful campaign to regain the majority in the Senate in 2012. Quintero also has worked in the New Jersey Statehouse and in the White House under President Bill Clinton.

His wife, Jodi Quintero, is the communications director for House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick.

A Clinton campaign official said Quintero’s role is to work with supporters and volunteers to build the initial volunteer infrastructure for the state’s Democratic caucus and, eventually, the general election. Clinton’s campaign is focused on door-to-door, “old-school organizing” in all 50 states leading up to next year’s Democratic primaries and caucuses, the official said.

Clinton, who was a U.S. Senator and First Lady before taking over as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, is the first 2016 hopeful to make a formal foray into the Pine Tree State.

Mario Moretto

About Mario Moretto

Mario Moretto has been a Maine journalist, in print and online publications, since 2009. He joined the Bangor Daily News in 2012, first as a general assignment reporter in his native Hancock County and, now, in the State House. Mario left the BDN in 2015.