November 19 – The state of Maine covers approximately 11,000 square miles – 200 miles long and 200 miles wide – yet all of the incoming Democratic leaders represent cities within 26 miles of Portland, one of the few progressive strongholds in the state.
None of the six Democratic leaders live in the sprawling 2nd Congressional District, which covers more than 88% of the state’s land area and is the largest district east of the Mississippi.
It’s the first time since at least 2009 that Democrats haven’t had at least one legislative leader from the 2nd District.
Conversely, Republicans have traditionally relied more heavily on 2nd District lawmakers to fill leadership positions. Not twice in the past nine legislatures have they had a lawmaker from Southern Maine in a leadership position.
Sen. Trey Stewart, who was re-elected as Republican Senate minority leader, said it is telling that Democratic leaders are clustered around Portland, saying it “shows the contrast between Republicans and Democrats before the session even begins.”
Republicans have long tried to tie statewide Democrats to Portland and the more liberal policies that embrace the country as a progressive city, one with an active chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“Our leadership is a cross-section of leaders from across the state, from four different counties and from different corners of Maine,” Stewart said. “Our priorities are all Maine people, not just our political strongholds.”
Stewart is from Presque Isle, while new Assistant Minority Leader Matthew Harrington is from the southern Maine town of Sanford.
On the House side, Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, who was reelected as minority leader, lives in Winter Harbor, a coastal community northeast of Bar Harbor, while new assistant minority leader Katrina Smith is from Palermo, a small town about 20 miles away. west of Bar Harbor. August.
Outgoing Senate President Troy Jackson of Allagash, who was barred from re-election and whose seat went to Republicans on Nov. 5, doesn’t think it matters where Democratic leaders come from. All that matters is what they believe and what they fight for, he said.
“(Democratic leaders) come from southern Maine, but they, in my opinion, fight harder for northern Maine than the people who actually come from northern Maine or rural Maine,” Jackson said. “All Republicans ever want is an income tax cut for the wealthy, and that won’t help rural Maine. It never has and it never will.”
In many ways, leadership elections illustrate growing political polarization along geographic lines. Democrats tend to do better in more urban and coastal areas, while losing ground in northern Maine, where Donald Trump has received one of the four Electoral College votes in each of the last three presidential elections.
Republicans thrive in rural towns and have lost ground in southern Maine, where margins are so wide that it could tilt the election for Democrats statewide even if they lose the North.
Jackson was the only Democrat from Aroostook County during the last session. The upcoming 132nd Legislature will not have one.
James Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, said Trump’s rise in the Republican Party has accelerated the geographic polarization he and other political observers have seen since 2000.
“The map is really striking,” Melcher said in an email. “It’s as much a story about Republican decline in coastal and southern Maine as it is about Democratic decline in the North. The fact that Trump has become the Republican standard-bearer has also greatly accelerated these changes. There have been big swings in Aroostook County and some mill towns. since then towards the (Republicans), and also swings from places with higher incomes and higher education in the South towards the (Democrats).
Melcher noted how John Martin, a longtime Democratic House Speaker from Aroostook County, was soundly defeated this month as he sought a 28th term in the Legislature.
“John Martin losing his race so badly is a good sign of change,” Melcher said.
Martin, who served as speaker of the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1994 and was called the Earl of Eagle Lake, lost by 30 points, or more than 1,400 votes, to Republican Lucien Daigle, a Fort Kent dentist with no political experience.
Senate Democrats last week elected Mattie Daughtry of Brunswick as president, and Teresa Pierce of Falmouth and Jill Duson of Portland were appointed majority and assistant majority leaders, respectively.
Brunswick is a heavily Democratic college town about 26 miles north of Portland.
Jackson said it is difficult for Democrats representing cities in the 2nd Congressional District to become leaders because they are always involved in competitive races. Winning leadership positions often involves helping other Democrats get elected by knocking on doors or spending money on their behalf, something Democrats in southern Maine have more time to do.
“The 2nd (district) is more in play,” Jackson said. “Those races are competitive, so those members are knocking on the door and doing everything they can to get chosen. They probably don’t have the time necessary to cultivate a leadership race.”
None of the three Democratic House leaders represent a city north of Portland. Democrats selected Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford as speaker of the House of Representatives, Matt Moonen of Portland as majority leader and Lori Gramlich of Old Orchard Beach, assistant speaker of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, said he is not surprised by the leadership selections. Democrats have a shrinking pool of representatives to choose from in the 2nd District.
“I always prefer to see geographic balance with leadership, with the Appropriations Committee and other committees, but unfortunately the majority of our representatives come from Bangor and the South, so there is a smaller poll to choose from,” Perry said. “I honestly feel like the Democrats are doing a much better job with our politics representing rural Maine, but I don’t think we can ever get that message out clearly and in a way that is received. And we don’t get the support from the countryside. Maine.”
Perry served as co-chairman of the Tax Committee during the last term.
Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, downplayed the significance of the consolidation of Democratic leadership in southern Maine. What’s important to him is that Democrats find the right people, no matter where they come from.
“It has to be based on personal qualifications, which are very qualified,” he said of his caucus leaders.
In addition to leadership positions, lawmakers have significant influence as chairmen of the legislature’s twenty standing committees.
“A number of us in the 2nd District are working to chair important committees, as we have done in the past, and those will be almost as important, if not more important, than the leadership positions,” said Baldacci, who co-chaired the committee. Final session of the Health and Human Services Committee.
Jackson agreed.
“As committee chair, they will have equal power to push agendas that work for the people,” he said.
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