I was born on December 27, 1953, during a blizzard on what was the Presque Isle Air Force base. My father was in the Air Force and my mother was a schoolteacher. My grandfather was a potato farmer in Blaine and my grandmother was also a schoolteacher in a two-room schoolhouse. After my father was discharged from the service, we moved to Connecticut in 1955.
I had a fairly typical childhood, playing little league ball, fishing, exploring and just doing what boys do. When I was fifteen, I became the youngest government official in the State of Connecticut after the mayor appointed me to the Shelton Conservation Commission. I had tried unsuccessfully to prevent a valuable wildlife habitat near my home from being destroyed. I participated in the first Earth Day in 1970 and became a lifelong strong environmentalist and wildlife advocate.
I graduated from high school in 1971 and began my studies at what was Southern Connecticut State College in New Haven. I left school and went back nights after marrying in 1974. Doing full-time factory work to support my family while going to school nights, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1982. As I was always wanting to move back to Maine, my late ex-wife and our two sons moved to Aroostook County in 1983.
While in the County, I did whatever it took to put food on the table from pumping gas, working the potato harvest, trying to sell insurance, working as a hotel desk clerk, making French fries, and finally working in a hospital stockroom. We ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches with free government cheese, caught and ate a lot of brook trout, and gleaned a lot of potatoes from harvested fields in those days. A visit to McDonald’s was a rare treat. Shortly after we moved to Mars Hill in 1983, I submitted a job application for the Maine Dept. of Labor. My goal was to have a good state job while living in the County. After not hearing anything for two years, I learned that the position I had applied for was only located in Augusta. After changing my job location preference, I was eventually interviewed and hired as an Economic Research Analyst.
In 1986, we moved to China, Maine and in 1987, I transferred to my dream job at the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection where I worked as an Environmental Specialist until 2016. In the early 1990’s I went back to night school at the University of Maine and in 1999 graduated with a master’s degree in public administration.
My nearly thirty years working in the executive branch of Maine government combined with my education taught me how government is supposed to work and how very dysfunctional Maine’s government really is. I want to use my experience and education to reform Maine’s government to make it work for ALL of the people, not just those in government and the special interests.
The day after I retired from state government in 2016, I became a democratic candidate for state representative and in 2018, I ran as a democratic candidate for state senate. In 2022, I challenged Janet Mills because I believe that the public, not the political parties, should decide who is elected. If I can get the necessary signatures, I will run as an independent because I believe in putting people before party.
If you would like to join our team, please call me at 207-660-3801. If we can get the help and signatures we need to get on the ballot, that will allow us to present our plan for reforming Maine’s government for the first time in two centuries.
John Glowa, Sr., Independent for Governor 2026 – A campaign focused on truth, experience, and putting people before politics. Join us in reshaping Maine’s government to work for everyone.
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