Good day from Augusta. Gov.-elect Janet Mills was moving into the Blaine House this weekend. She will take the oath of office to succeed Gov. Paul LePage this evening before delivering an inaugural address that she has only dropped scant hints on so far.
After an eight-year tenure presiding over a divisive era in Maine politics, Gov. Paul LePage, elected in 2010 on a Republican wave after a recession, will leave office this week on the heels of a Democratic wave and a stretch of record-low unemployment.
Good morning from Augusta. Final campaign finance numbers for Maine’s state and federal elections in 2018 are in. They were massive with $65.3 million spent on primary and general elections, including Maine’s 2nd District, the governor’s race and the battle over control of the Legislature.
Leaders in the Maine Legislature have set the 2019 rosters for the 18 committees that will handle most policymaking at the State House, which will be under Democratic control in the legislative and executive branches for the first time in eight years.
Gov.-elect Janet Mills said Wednesday she’ll nominate Brunswick Assistant Superintendent Pender Makin to lead the Maine Department of Education and her pushes for universal pre-K and raising minimum teacher salaries in Maine.
The new year will kick off with the peaceful transition of Maine’s governorship from Republican Paul LePage to Democrat Janet Mills on Jan. 2.
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd District announced on Monday that he will end his federal challenge to the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which delivered Rep.-elect Jared Golden’s historic 2018 victory over the two-term incumbent.
The story of Gov. Paul LePage is familiar: He rose from childhood poverty and abuse to eight years in the Blaine House and may be the most polarizing politician in the state’s history, challenging the gentility that Maine politics was known for before him.
Good morning from Augusta, where Libertarians are no longer recognized as an official political party in Maine because their voter enrollment numbers are too low.
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin on Monday said he will appeal a federal judge’s ruling last week that rejected the Republican’s challenge to the state’s ranked-choice voting system, a move that could keep the longshot lawsuit alive for months.
