[1] Rand was born in Portland, Maine and raised in the city's Munjoy Hill neighborhood.
In 1988, Rand was a delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, where she supported Jesse Jackson.
[2] In 1995, Rand made headlines for sponsoring a bill to make marijuana legal for patients with HIV-AIDS.
[3] She was elected to the State Senate in 1994 and served until 2002, when she was unable to run for re-election due to term-limits.
She sought her old seat on the Maine Senate in 2008, but lost in the Democratic primary to Justin Alfond.