Maine Sen. Rick Bennett announced his campaign for governor as an independent Tuesday, joining a crowded field of more than a dozen candidates vying to replace Gov. Janet Mills next year.

Bennett, a longtime Republican lawmaker from Oxford, said in an interview Monday that he would be unenrolling from the Republican party and that he is running for governor to bring a new approach to the office.

“We need a different approach to governing and we need to focus on the real problems facing Maine people,” he said. “I believe we need a new approach that involves people across the political spectrum, across the communities of Maine, the business community and the nonprofit community coming together and collaborating on solving the challenges in from of us.”

Bennett, 62, is the latest contender to enter the race to succeed Mills, a Democrat who is prevented from running for reelection due to term limits. Democratic candidates include former Senate President Troy Jackson; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; Hannah Pingree, a former lawmaker and official in the Mills administration; and Angus King III, a businessman and renewable energy entrepreneur.

Republican candidates include Sen. James Libby, R-Standish; Bobby Charles, a Leeds resident and lawyer who served under President George W. Bush; Owen McCarthy, a medical technology entrepreneur from Gorham; and David Jones, a Falmouth real estate broker; along with Steven Shepperd, Ken Capron and Robert Wessels.

Bennett is president and CEO of a consulting firm, ValueEdge Advisors, that specializes in corporate governance. He was previously CEO and then chairman of GMI Ratings and its predecessor, The Corporate Library, an investment research firm headquartered in Portland.

He also led a restructuring as co-chair of the Lewiston footwear company Quoddy, and since 2000 has been on the board of Biddeford-based GWI, a telecom and internet company, but said he has decided to step away from the board as he runs for governor.

He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1990 to 1994 before running for Congress in Maine’s 2nd District. Bennett won the Republican primary but lost the general election to Democrat John Baldacci.

Bennett was then elected to the Maine Senate in 1996 and served until 2004, including as Senate president for one year in 2002, the result of a unique power-sharing agreement brokered after the 2000 election produced a tie in the makeup of the Senate with 17 Democrats, 17 Republicans and one independent.

He said he focused on his family and business for the next 16 years before deciding to run for Senate again in 2020, though he also served as chair of the Maine Republican Party from 2012 to 2017.

Bennett acknowledged that he has taken some “unconventional positions” for a Republican over the years, but said he tries to do what he thinks is best for his constituents and his district. This past legislative session, he was the only Republican to vote against a trio of bills aimed at preventing transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

He also voted with Democrats in favor of a bill that would prevent local and state law enforcement from arresting or detaining people solely for enforcement of federal immigration laws and would limit local agencies’ abilities to work with federal immigration officials.

Bennett said Monday that he decided to unenroll from the Republican party and run as an independent because “parties have become part of the problem.”

“Parties these days are vast money pumps,” he said. “They get big dark money pools from billionaires and special interests. … You have an increasingly narrow array of issues that animate the base of each party, and they’re not reflective of the needs of Maine people and what we need to focus on in terms of education, the housing crisis and child care.”

Bennett said his priorities also include improving health care access, including access to mental health services, and support for small businesses.

“I have a deep love for Maine business and the people that make these enterprises function and grow, and we need to always remember them and put them first and foremost in policy making,” he said. “That’s critical and I think what makes me a different candidate. I have the policy making experience but also the practical experience in business, growing businesses and dealing with the challenges.”

About 30% of Maine’s 1 million registered active voters are unenrolled from any political party, according to data from the Department of the Secretary of State.

And while Democrats have held a trifecta of power since Mills took office in 2019, maintaining majorities in both the House and Senate, history may favor a change. Since the 1950s, Mainers have not elected a candidate from the same political party as a departing governor — a trend that began after Maine had five consecutive Republican governors from 1937 through 1955.

The most recent independent governor was Angus King Jr., who served from 1995 to 2003 and now represents Maine in the U.S. Senate. Prior to that, James Longley served as an independent from 1975 to 1979.