James R. “Jim” Handy was born in Lewiston, Maine on July 26, 1954. His parents were Robert E., Sr. and Josephine (Palman) Handy, and he is third generation Polish-American. He graduated from Lewiston High School in 1972, and attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine. He has been a member of local, county, and state Democratic Committees and was a member of the Environmental Action Club. He was in the Maine house of representatives from 1982-92 and served two years in the Maine state senate from 1992-4. He was chair of Labor Committee, the Aging, Retirement and Veterans’ Committee, and the Legal Affairs Committee
