Joe Rafferty

Joseph Rafferty Jr. is an American educator, high school gridiron football coach, and Democratic politician from Maine. Rafferty has been the head coach of the Kennebunk High School Rams football team since 1979 and is currently serving his first term in the Maine Senate representing District 34, which consists of Kennebunk, Wells, Acton, Lebanon, North Berwick, and part of Berwick. Rafferty was born in 1955 and grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts. He attended Springfield College, graduated in 1977 and began teaching and coaching at Kennebunk High School in 1978. As an educator, he was active in the teachers' unions and helped negotiate contracts on their behalf. He retired from full-time teaching in 2018 but continues to coach football. Rafferty was first elected to the Maine Senate in 2020.