AUGUSTA -- As she took the gavel in a new chamber last week, Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell moved in to the next phase of a political career that began more than 30 years ago.

The mother of four and grandmother of six is known in the halls of the Statehouse for her Southern charm, her bright mind and her sense of humor.

Ten years after serving as the first woman Speaker of the House, Mitchell, 68, says she wants to foster cooperation as Senate president.

The Vassalboro Democrat described her leadership style as "collaborative, but firm."

"I have the courage of my convictions and have a passion for the causes that I champion," she said.

As a central figure in Maine politics for many years, she earns lavish praise from supporters, but critics decry her as partisan. She's a Democrat's Democrat who won't bend on issues she feels strongly about, those who know her say.

Republicans who have served with Mitchell remember her as the Democratic speaker who pushed through the state budget in a partisan fashion, leaving hard feelings among members.

Supporters and critics alike use the word "tough" to describe her.

Sen. Carol Weston, R-Montville, served as Senate minority leader from 2006 to 2008 while Mitchell led the majority.

"She's very focused, and in a leader you need someone who's focused," she said. "It's going to help the Democratic legislators in this building."

At the same time, as a member of the minority party -- Democrats hold a 20-15 majority in the Senate -- Weston and other Republicans aren't sure what to expect from Mitchell.

"My concern has been that if you're going to use the word 'bipartisan,' you need to define it as movement on both sides," she said. "Libby defines it as what she wants. She's less flexible."

Yet Democrats see a different Mitchell, one who is helpful, a leader, dignified.

Michael Saxl -- a lawyer with Verrill Dana who was House majority whip the year Mitchell was speaker, and who served as House speaker for four years after Mitchell did -- considers Mitchell a mentor.

"The amazing thing about Libby Mitchell is she has evolved as a leader in Maine politics long before women had roles of leadership," he said. "She was able to work in a male-dominated system simply because she's smart, hard working and she is extremely gracious."

Last week, Mitchell became the first woman in the country to be elected by her peers first as House speaker and now Senate president. In Maine, the Senate president is the de facto lieutenant governor, which means she would take over as governor if anything happened to Gov. John Baldacci.

After pounding the gavel -- hard -- in the Senate on her first day as president, Mitchell gave a soft-spoken speech in the chamber with several members of her family sitting in the front row.

She joked that while she wasn't born in Maine, she moved here as quickly as she could.

In an interview, she called her South Carolina accent frustrating.

"I chose Maine," she said. "I didn't have the good fortune of being born in Maine. I've never learned to talk like a Mainer and that's my worst frustration. I can't talk properly."

Early years

Mitchell grew up in Gaffney, S.C., where she worked at a peach orchard and was popular in high school, according to her daughter, J. Elizabeth Mitchell.

With a teaching career in mind, she earned an undergraduate degree at Furman University in Greenville, and went on to get a master's degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

When her husband Jim, now a Kennebec County Probate judge, came home from Vietnam, they moved to Connecticut while he attended Yale Law School.

They came to Maine in 1971.

"We came here because my husband was offered a job by then-Gov. Ken Curtis," she said. "The connection was, oddly enough, one of his favorite professors at Yale Law School was from China, Maine."

They moved to Maine with two small children and only intended to stay a couple of years.

They never left and went on to have two more children.

"We fell in love with Maine," she said. "We're still living in this 1840s farmhouse in Vassalboro that we settled in to in 1971."

Mitchell went to college to be a teacher and had a passion for education. After moving to Maine, she taught adults to read.

She can trace her interest in politics back to her formative years in South Carolina, where her uncle and grandfather were elected county sheriff.

"I remember as a young girl going down to the city park when the vote tallies were coming in," she said. "They would write them up on these giant chalk boards. It seemed like such a festival."

When she decided to run for the Legislature in 1974, in a mostly Republican district, her main goal was to improve education.

She was challenged in a primary by established Democrats who thought she was too new to the area to win the race.

"I surprised myself by winning," she said. "That was the beginning of a lot of door-to-door, face-to-face contact, which I adored."

Leadership roles

Mitchell said she did not have her sights set on serving in leadership during the early terms of her legislative career.

She served on the education committee and wanted to eventually become chairwoman. But then-Majority Leader Jim Tierney approached Mitchell about running for the job of assistant majority leader.

Her peers chose her for the job and later promoted her to majority leader.

Then in 1984, she ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. William Cohen. Her campaign got off to a late start, but she felt the need to challenge the incumbent.

"At that time, there was not a single Democratic woman in the United States Senate," she said.

She lost badly -- she got only 26 percent of the vote -- but says she raised issues during the campaign that were important to her. She turned the discussion toward nuclear weapons and campaign financing.

After a few years out of state government, she served as head of the Maine State Housing Authority under Gov. Joseph Brennan.

In 1990, she tried a run for Congress again, this time the U.S. House, but finished third in the 1st Congressional District Democratic primary.

Mitchell said she hadn't intended to return to the Legislature.

But later that same year, when a Democratic candidate from her district dropped out of race after the primary, she decided to run again.

She won her race and served during the state shutdown, a time that's shaped her philosophies since then.

"That was a very dark day," she said. "I thought the state shutdown was just horrible. It certainly has shaped my thinking. You have to work together. You have to avoid that."

The first time she ran for speaker, she lost to Dan Gwadosky. The next time, she defeated Steven Rowe for the position.

"What I remember most was that there were so many men who brought their young daughters down to see," she said. "There had never been a woman speaker. The magnitude of that was very humbling."

Mitchell was speaker while independent Gov. Angus King served in office. Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

She tried to get funding to pay for a 13th year of schooling for all Maine students, but was unsuccessful.

She spearheaded $53 million in borrowing to pay for Statehouse and state-office building improvements, a move that was criticized by some at the time as unnecessary.

Mitchell defends her decision.

"Not only was it falling in on us, it was not suitably appropriate for a historic chamber visited by school kids from all over the state," she said. "This is our house of government. It's not elaborate."

She said state workers were surrounded by asbestos and a drippy tunnel made for a wet commute for those who had to walk between buildings.

Another controversial decision during Mitchell's tenure as Speaker came when she, King and Senate President Mark Lawrence decided to move forward with what's called a majority budget. That's when Democrats approve the budget without Republicans, then adjourn the legislative session so it will take effect in time for the new budget year.

It was a break from the tradition of working together to pass budgets, said Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, who was in the House at the time.

"It caused a lot of friction and continues to cause a lot of friction," she said.

Mitchell said Senate Republicans were holding other non-budget items "hostage," which forced them to pass the budget without their support.

"We negotiated, negotiated, negotiated," she said. "I learned that if you had to do it in that case to avoid a shutdown, it was better than a shutdown. I also learned I never wanted to do it again."

Plowman, who served on the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee with Mitchell in recent years, said Mitchell takes on a different demeanor when she's in a leadership role.

"She's always very pleasant, but there's an edge that comes with a presiding officer spot," she said. "I'm hoping she's mellowed a little bit."

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com