Bridgton, ME—Tim Rich, a podcast host, well-known restaurant owner, and healthcare reform advocate announced today that he is running for U.S. Senate as a Maine Independent.

“We are manipulated, our views distorted, and we don’t even know it!” Tim said. “This is being led by big tech companies and two national political parties that are corrupt, broken, and morally bankrupt. They are going to drop hundreds of millions of dollars on our state to try to buy this seat and our people can’t even afford their groceries. It’s ridiculous, this is not the world we grew up in. If we have any chance of stopping it, it has to happen now or it will be too late.”

Tim is a former restaurant owner and and union organizer. He has spoken about selling his house and his business to take care of his elderly mother when she couldn’t take care of herself. “It cost us everything, but it saved her life.” said his wife Rebecca. “It hasn’t been easy, but we never doubted it was worth every penny. It’s not a choice any Mainer should ever have to make.”

Tim is a true product of the working class. His father dropped out of school in the 9th grade. He worked for a billboard company, on a lobster boat, installed garage doors, and washed cars at the post office. His mother worked as a lunch lady in local schools. Tim often worked multiple jobs to get through college. He also attended chaplaincy school.

Tim was a longtime board member of Hospitality Maine, a 1,000 member strong advocacy group for small restaurants and hotels in Maine. He used his restaurant to support many causes he believed in such as Milk with Dignity, consumer owned electricity, various non-profits, a preschool, and local food pantries. He is an active member of the recovery community and has lost many people he loved to drugs and alcohol.

“We are all sitting back while big companies poison our food and steal our water. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars on wars while our people go broke. We are tracked constantly. We can’t allow this to happen anymore. We need to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about the world we are passing on to our children and their children,” Tim said.