Ryan Michael Fecteau (born September 18, 1992) is an American politician who serves as theSpeaker of the Maine House of Representatives. ADemocrat, Fecteau represents Maine House District 11, consisting of a portion ofBiddeford. At the time of his first election as Speaker of the House in December 2020, Fecteau was both the youngest active state Speaker in theUnited States and the first openlygay person to serve as Speaker of the Maine House.

Fecteau was born and raised inBiddeford, Maine and graduated fromBiddeford High School. He attended theCatholic University of America where he was active in student government and LGBTQ+ advocacy. He was first elected to Maine House District 11 in 2014 when he was 21 years old and was re-elected in 2016, 2018 and 2020. In November 2018, Fecteau was elected Assistant Majority Leader of the Maine House, and in December 2020, and again in December 2024, he was elected Speaker of the House. He is an account executive atCatalist.

Fecteau is a native ofBiddeford, Maine and the grandson ofFrench-Canadian immigrants.^[1][2][3] He was raised by a single mother who worked in healthcare, and Fecteau grew up insubsidized housing;^[2] the family often relied on theSupplemental Nutrition Assistance Program^[4] for food. Fecteau graduated fromBiddeford High School,^[1] spending two years as the student representative to the Biddeford School Committee during his time there.^[5]

After high school, Fecteau attended theCatholic University of America^[1][3] where he majored in both political science and theological & religious studies. He was the president of the CUAllies, the University's LGBTQ+ advocacy group, and led a campaign to have the group officially recognized by the University, an effort which ultimately failed.^[4][6][7] While at CUA, Fecteau was the first openly gay speaker of the Student Government General Assembly^[4] and completed internships at theDemocratic National Committee, theHuman Rights Campaign, Catalist, and in the office of US RepresentativeChellie Pingree.^[8] He was the first person in his family to graduate from college.^[3][2]

Fecteau has worked as a field organizer forMainers United for Marriage in 2012, was the chairman of the Biddeford Democratic Committee from 2011 to 2012, and was an editorial director at Trueline Publishing inPortland, Maine.^[9][5] He has worked at severalOgunquit, Maine businesses since 2014 and at thePerkins Cove.^[10] In late 2020, he was hired as an account executive at Catalist.^[11][3]

In 2013, while he was still a student at CUA, Fecteau began his campaign for Maine House District 11. He traveled to Maine on weekends to campaign and recruited friends to call voters during the weekends when he could not make the trip.^[4] Fecteau defeated fellow Democrat David Flood 65%–35% in the 2014 House District 11 Democratic primary and beat Republican Debi Davis 67%–33% in the general election.^[9] He was 21, the third-youngest member of the Maine legislature and the youngest openly gaystate representative in the United States.^[12][1]

Fecteau ran unopposed in the 2016 Democratic primary and defeated Republican Renee Morin 68%–32%.^[9]

In 2018, Fecteau was again unopposed in the primary and defeated Republican Emily Rousseau^[10] 62%–38%.^[9] On November 16, 2018, the Maine House Democrats elected him Assistant House Majority Leader.Matt Moonen served as Majority Leader andSara Gideon was the House Speaker.^[13] Fecteau’s signature legislation was a ban on the harmful practice of conversion therapy in Maine. In 2018, despite the Legislature’s support,Governor LePage was the only Republican Governor in the nation to veto a conversion therapy bill.^[14] In 2019, GovernorJanet Mills signed the bill into law.^[15] Fecteau also worked on a bipartisan measure to expand affordable housing in Maine, the single largest investment in housing in Maine’s history.^[16]

Fecteau ran unopposed in both the House District 11 Democratic primary and the general election in 2020.^[9] On December 2, 2020, the Maine House elected him as their 103rd Speaker.^[17] While Fecteau ordinarily would have been sworn in by Governor Janet Mills, Mills was quarantining after possible exposure toCOVID-19, so Acting Chief Justice of theMaine Supreme Judicial CourtAndrew Mead conducted the ceremony instead. At the time of his swearing-in, Fecteau was the youngest presiding officer in the United States, the youngest Maine House speakersince 1842 and the firstout speaker in Maine history.^[11][2][17]

During his time as Speaker, he worked with Senate PresidentTroy Jackson to pass LD 1, the COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights^[18] and continue the work of the 130th Legislature through a hybrid model of virtual public hearings and occasional distanced sessions at aCivic Center^[19] before returning to thestate house in June 2021.^[20] His bill to expanddental care to 217,000 low-income Mainers was funded as part of the biennial budget.^[21][22] Fecteau's multi-year efforts to fund capital improvements for Maine’scareer and technical education centers finally passed in 2021 through his bill for $20 million and an additional $20 million was designated throughAmerican Rescue Plan funding.^[23] In June 2020 Fecteau joined with Republicans to defeat a bill aiming to extend overtime protections tofarm workers; however, he did back a bill to provide farm workers the right to organize.^[24][25][26] In the same year, legislation he worked on to reform the state’s troubledunemployment insurance system became law.^[27] Because of another bill passed by Speaker Fecteau in 2021, Maine municipalities could be incentivized to adopt zoning ordinances that encourage moreaffordable housing in Maine towns.^[28] He authored legislation that allowed property owners to build anaccessory dwelling unit on lots previously zoned exclusively for single-family housing.^[29] He was later hired by Avesta Housing to serve on its board.^[30] Fecteau was term-limited in2022, and was succeeded by fellow DemocratErin Sheehan in the House and byRachel Talbot Ross as House Speaker.

Following Sheehan's retirement, Fecteau announced his candidacy for his former seat.^[31] He was re-elected unopposed inNovember. In December 2024, Fecteau was re-elected to a second, non-consecutive term as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.^[32]

Fecteau lives in Biddeford with hisGoldendoodle, Pancake.^[11] In 2015, he received Youth Innovator of the Year award fromThe Trevor Project, a group focused on suicide prevention among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and queer youth, at their annual TrevorLIVE event.^[33]

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• 21st-century American LGBTQ people
• 21st-century members of the Maine Legislature
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• American people of French-Canadian descent
• Biddeford High School alumni
• Catholic University of America alumni
• Catholics from Maine
• Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives
• LGBTQ Roman Catholics
• LGBTQ state legislators in Maine
• Living people
• Politicians from Biddeford, Maine
• Speakers of the Maine House of Representatives

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