LEWISTON — Patti Gagne, a lifelong Lewiston-area resident, has announced she is a Republican candidate for Maine Senate District 21, which comprises the city of Lewiston.

Gagne is owner of Patti Gagne Insurance Agency in Lewiston. She serves on the Lewiston Board of Appeals and is chairwoman of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce.

Gagne said she would like to continue her record of public service.

“I want to make a difference in our community, and serving the people of Lewiston in the Maine Senate would be a true honor,” she said.

Gagne has decades of experience in the insurance industry and said she is eager to help craft policy that is aimed at lowering the cost of insurance and health care.

“As a business owner and chair of the Chamber of Commerce, I understand the challenge of meeting a payroll and what it takes to create jobs. It’s encouraging to see Maine’s unemployment rate fall, but clearly more needs to be done,” she said.

Gagne and her husband, Ernie, a teacher at Lewiston’s Geiger Elementary School, have been married 25 years. They have two children, Stephanie, a nurse at Central Maine Medical Center, and Scott, a business management student at the University of Southern Maine.

Third-term Democrat Margaret Craven of Lewiston currently holds the seat.