Tom MacMillan was born in Portland, Maine to a working class family; his mother was a medical technician and his father an auto-mechanic. He grew up on the edge of poverty. His family, which has lived in Portland for generations, includes his great-grandmother who still lives in the West End. He is a proud graduate of Portland Public Schools, including Portland High School. He is also a board member of the West End Neighborhood Association.

Tom is running for office after years of involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Seeds of Peace and the Maine Green Independent Party because of the obvious need to remove money from politics. Everyone realizes that the rich are getting richer and the rest of us are in deep trouble. He views the involvement of professional lobbyists, financial institutions and big industries in the political process as the primary cause of apathy and distrust in the US political system. He also believes those reasons to be why small and local businesses are unable to grow and that health care continues to need a common sense solution. As state representative, Tom will work to limit and eventually end the involvement of corporate money in politics.

Locally, Tom has worked on a number of issues in the recent past, including successfully organizing and writing a resolution for Portland City Council to endorse a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood. He also collected hundreds of signatures to help restore same day voter registration, restore same sex marriage and marijuana reform.

On a global scale, Tom has traveled and worked on 4 continents, including a trip through war-torn Kosovo and Macedonia, working with orphans and vulnerable children in Southern Africa, teaching refugees in Egypt and teaching English in Israel-Palestine. In college, he formed Clark University Students for Palestinian Rights, a group seeking to promote dialogue and understanding on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tom lives in the West End with his dog, Gretel.