AUGUSTA – A former Republican state representative has edged into Maine’s upcoming congressional sweepstakes.

Steven Joyce of Biddeford, a self-employed contractor who served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1994 to 1998, is forming an exploratory committee with an eye toward running for the 1st Congressional District seat next year.

“I have been considering entering this race for many months,” Joyce said in a statement. “Everyone I have met with has encouraged me to run so the voters can have a real choice next year.”

For months, large fields of Democratic and Republican candidates have campaigned actively in northern Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which has been represented by Democrat John Baldacci of Bangor since he was first elected in 1994.

Baldacci’s longstanding plan to seek the governorship next year brought numerous would-be successors out early.

The 1st District, from which Democratic incumbent Tom Allen is serving his third term in Congress, has been comparatively quiet.

Allen appears to have no serious opposition within his own party. Joyce, who lost a bid for re-election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1998, currently would be judged to be a long shot challenger.

In his announcement Thursday, however, Joyce claimed support from a variety of sectors.

“These business, political, and community leaders have agreed with my concerns about the economy, national defense, and retirement issues. We all agree that the people of Maine are ready to hear a different voice, a voice that speaks cleanly and with common sense, rather than the party rhetoric that voters are so used to hearing,” Joyce said.

Joyce said he would name members of his campaign committee in the next few weeks and expected to make a formal announcement within the next couple of months.