Anthony’s Story
Riverton 2006 | Lincoln 2009 | Deering 2013
Anthony Emerson’s story is the story of Portland. His father, one of eight children, was a union electrician. His mother was one of six children. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism, at age seven, Anthony’s world was shattered at the age of ten with the death of his father from leukemia. His mother, working in the kitchen at Lincoln Middle School, was suddenly raising Anthony and his younger sister by herself, on a job that paid just enough to put food on the table. Throughout middle school, Anthony struggled to fit in. Buoyed by a small group of friends and the love and support of faculty and staff at Riverton, Lincoln and Deering, Anthony was saved from falling through the cracks in our system.
Overcoming adversity, Anthony developed an identity around helping others and fighting for justice. At fourteen he formed a pressure group to involve high schoolers in Maine’s 2009 referendum on same-sex marriage. At fifteen he began volunteering for Democrats — from local races all the way to the Blaine House. In high school and college, he served on the student senate. In 2016, he worked for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. In 2018 and 2020, he worked on Betsy Sweet’s campaigns for Governor of Maine and United States Senate.
Anthony Emerson is running for charter commission because he’s ready to take the fight for justice to the halls of power themselves. In the times of coronavirus, Anthony knows without help from the committed faculty and staff of Portland Public Schools, he would’ve fallen through the cracks. Justice begins in the classroom — it’s where intelligent, compassionate and involved citizens are made.
As a essential worker, Anthony has also seen how those who keep society running are also the first to be sacrificed in the name of profit. He will fight for Portland’s working families, to make sure this wonderful city isn’t just a playground for the rich.
