Chellie Pingree is a Democrat and represents the First Congressional District of the state of Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to the district, which includes the state capital of Augusta, and entered office in November of 2008.http://pingree.house.gov/about/index.shtml  She ran for office again in the 2010 midterm elections and beat challenger Dean Scontras with 57 percent of the vote.http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/10719 

As a state senator for Maine, Pingree helped pass a law in 2002 that lowered the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly and uninsured. The "Maine Rx Law" required pharmaceutical companies to negotiate with the state for drug prices. The drug companies fought the bill to the Supreme Court. Pingree was described by Maine Representative Tom Allen as "the industry's worst nightmare."http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C03E3D71F30F932A25756C0A9649C8B63 

Chellie Pingree was born on April 2, 1955, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She obtained a bachelor's degree in ecology from the College of the Atlantic in 1979.http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/p000597/ In 1981, Pingree launched North Island Yarn, a knitting retail store. Eventually the business grew nationwide with 500 stores and a mail order system. She sold the business in 1993.http://pingree.house.gov/about/index.shtml Pingree was elected to the Maine State Senate in 1992 representing Knox County and became Senate majority leader in 1996. She served in the state senate until she was elected to Congress in 2008.http://pingree.house.gov/about/index.shtml 

Chellie Pingre has cast 98.3 percent of her votes with the majority of her Democratic Party colleagues. She is a supporter of universal healthcare and voted for the healthcare plan proposed by President Obama in March of 2010.http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/p000597/ From 2003 to 2007, she was the national president and CEO of Common Cause, a non-partisan citizen activist group which focuses on helping people voice their opinions and contact their elected leaders.http://pingree.house.gov/about/index.shtml Pingree is a member of the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Agriculture.http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/10719