Maine voters have begun to be inundated with digital ads and flyers from a pop-up political group called Mainers for Fair Laws that claim Question 1 on the November ballot will set a dangerous precedent of “retroactivity.” The campaign mailers, which are pushing back on the referendum against Central Maine Power’s proposed transmission corridor, make…
Last fall, Kate Brennan, a community organizer, was trying to help a young, single mom in Augusta register to vote, but they kept running into roadblocks. The woman she was helping didn’t have a car or money to pay for a taxi and the city hall office where she had to register was across town,…
Janet Mills has won the Democratic nomination for governor and will run against Republican nominee Shawn Moody and independents Terry Hayes and Alan Caron in the race for the Blaine House this November. After ranked-choice voting tabulations were completed on Wednesday evening, Mills won with 54% of the vote over Adam Cote, who won 46%…
This week on the Beacon podcast, Ben, Taryn and Mike analyze the results of the primary contests, including how many voters from each party turned out (and, crucially, where they turned out), why Shawn Moody will be a strong general election candidate, and the contrast Rep. Jared Golden will offer with Rep. Bruce Poliquin. Plus:…
One day before the primary election and with so many Democratic candidates to sift through, Beacon has compiled links to interviews with most of the Democrats running either for governor or Congress in Maine’s 2nd District. With the ranked choice ballot being used in the gubernatorial primary this year, Maine voters will not only be…
On Wednesday night, I attended one of the last forums for the Democrats running for governor. Jeremy Hiltz, in recovery from drug addiction, and Fowsia Musse, a prominent leader of Lewiston’s immigrant community, started the night by plainly stating: “The two of us have much more in common than Governor LePage wants you to think.”…
This week on the Beacon podcast, Taryn, Ben and Mike discuss the rapidly approaching election, including MPA’s endorsement of Jared Golden in CD2 (sign up to volunteer here), the “Final Forum” held in Lewiston on Wednesday and the results of the Beacon straw poll in the race for governor. They try to avoid making predictions.…
For nearly the final time before next Tuesday’s primary, Democratic candidates gathered in Lewiston Wednesday evening to answer some pointed questions about how, if elected governor, they would handle some of the most pressing issues facing Mainers. As the candidates took questions from Mainers directly impacted by the opioid crisis, immigrants, and those eagerly awaiting…
The readers of Beacon and listeners of the Beacon podcast have spoken. Over the last two weeks, 1,021 people participated in an online straw poll of the Democratic primary for governor with former Speaker of the House Mark Eves emerging as the clear winner on both the initial ballot and in the final count, based…
On the podcast this week we talked about the shift that has recently occurred in the Maine Democratic Party, which was on full display at the convention last week. Previously, the party often had a “conservative-lite” feel to it. Democrats had the bad habit of couching their policy visions not in party values but rather…