BANGOR – The Republican challenger for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat has competed in several marathons, but Brian Hamel admits he’s a relative stranger to the big race he’s in now.

Hamel, former president and chief executive officer of Loring Development Authority, officially opened his headquarters at 92 Central St. on Tuesday, hoping to gain momentum in his campaign to unseat Democratic first-termer Michael Michaud.

“Mike clearly has the advantage – he’s the incumbent,” Hamel said Tuesday in a meeting with the Bangor Daily News editorial board. “But I’m looking forward to the opportunity for voters to take a good look at both candidates – side by side.”

The Presque Isle resident never has run for political office before but has “no interest in running for Congress and losing,” he said.

When he began the race, Hamel thought he would struggle to raise enough money to challenge an incumbent. So far that hasn’t been a problem, he said. Hamel had nearly $284,000 in cash on hand at the end of the June 30 reporting cycle, most coming from individual donors.

“It’s been a real barometer for me from Maine people,” he said.

Now, Hamel is shifting his focus to using that money to build name recognition, something that typically has been the difference in influencing independent voters.

“When I decided to run [for Congress] back in March, I don’t think people realize I had an ‘R’ next to my name,” Hamel said. “I’ve gotten overwhelming support from the Republican Party, but from my business background, I have a bipartisan approach.”

In recent years, Hamel has found time to run the Boston Marathon seven times, and now he hopes to carry the same brand of work ethic to politics.

Hamel is making a big push for economic gains in the largest congressional district in area east of the Mississippi River. He referred frequently Tuesday to his redevelopment of the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone.

The based closed in 1994. As head of the team established to develop the facility, Hamel oversaw its transformation into the Loring Commerce Centre, bringing in 23 businesses with some 1,200 jobs since 1994.

Now, he says, he wants to carry that success to Congress.

“Most people thought Loring’s development couldn’t happen, and that was a real professional challenge for me,” Hamel said. “If we can do that in Limestone, why can’t it be replicated in the rest of the 2nd District?”

The Republican challenger addressed manufacturing job losses, saying the Maine still can compete in the paper industry, but he also encouraged mill towns to think more creatively. “We need to change the mind-set that mill towns can only be mill towns,” he said.

Hamel also said creating jobs would encourage Maine’s younger population to stay put, but those jobs need to be diverse.

Hamel has championed higher education as of chair of Maine’s community college system board of trustees. He calls Maine’s agricultural community the “fabric of Maine’s 2nd District.” He advocates extending Interstate 95, increasing weight limits on the interstate, and building an east-west highway. He said he’s dedicated to protecting Maine’s environment.

“I don’t think we can survive on a service-based economy. Those aren’t the kind of jobs that are going to keep people in Maine,” he said.