State and local politics

Gubernatorial election results[1]
Year Democratic Republican
1954 54.5% 135,673 45.5% 113,298
1956 59.2% 180,254 40.8% 124,395
1958 52.0% 145,673 48.0% 134,572
1962 49.9% 146,121 50.1% 146,604
1966 53.1% 172,036 46.9% 151,802
1970 50.1% 163,138 49.9% 162,248
1974 36.8% 132,219 23.5% 84,176
1978 47.8% 176,493 34.4% 126,862
1982 61.9% 281,066 38.1% 172,949
1986 30.2% 128,744 39.9% 170,312
1990 44.1% 230,038 46.7% 243,766
1994 33.8% 172,951 23.1% 117,990
1998 12.0% 50,506 18.9% 79,716
2002 47.2% 238,179 41.5% 209,496
2006 38.1% 209,927 30.2% 166,425
2010 18.8% 109,387 37.6% 218,065
2014 43.4% 265,125 48.2% 294,533
2018 50.9% 320,962 43.2% 272,311
2022 55.7% 376,934 42.4% 287,304
United States presidential election results for Maine[2]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party
No. %No. %No. %
2020 360,770 44.03% 435,072 53.09% 23,619 2.88%
2016 335,593 44.87% 357,735 47.83% 54,599 7.30%
2012 292,276 40.98% 401,306 56.27% 19,598 2.75%
2008 295,273 40.38% 421,923 57.71% 13,967 1.91%
2004 330,201 44.58% 396,842 53.57% 13,709 1.85%
2000 286,616 43.97% 319,951 49.09% 45,250 6.94%
1996 186,378 30.76% 312,788 51.62% 106,731 17.62%
1992 206,504 30.39% 263,420 38.77% 209,575 30.84%
1988 307,131 55.34% 243,569 43.88% 4,335 0.78%
1984 336,500 60.83% 214,515 38.78% 2,129 0.38%
1980 238,522 45.61% 220,974 42.25% 63,515 12.14%
1976 236,320 48.91% 232,279 48.07% 14,609 3.02%
1972 256,458 61.46% 160,584 38.48% 229 0.05%
1968 169,254 43.07% 217,312 55.30% 6,370 1.62%
1964 118,701 31.14% 262,264 68.80% 256 0.07%
1960 240,608 57.05% 181,159 42.95% 6 0.00%
1956 249,238 70.87% 102,468 29.13% 0 0.00%
1952 232,353 66.05% 118,806 33.77% 627 0.18%
1948 150,234 56.74% 111,916 42.27% 2,639 1.00%
1944 155,434 52.44% 140,631 47.45% 335 0.11%
1940 163,951 51.10% 156,478 48.77% 411 0.13%
1936 168,823 55.49% 126,333 41.52% 9,084 2.99%
1932 166,631 55.83% 128,907 43.19% 2,906 0.97%
1928 179,923 68.63% 81,179 30.96% 1,069 0.41%
1924 138,440 72.03% 41,964 21.83% 11,788 6.13%
1920 136,355 68.92% 58,961 29.80% 2,524 1.28%
1916 69,508 50.99% 64,033 46.97% 2,773 2.03%
1912 26,545 20.48% 51,113 39.43% 51,982 40.10%
1908 66,987 63.00% 35,403 33.29% 3,946 3.71%
1904 65,432 67.44% 27,642 28.49% 3,949 4.07%
1900 65,412 61.89% 36,822 34.84% 3,459 3.27%
1896 80,403 67.90% 34,587 29.21% 3,429 2.90%
1892 62,936 54.05% 48,049 41.26% 5,466 4.69%
1888 73,730 57.49% 50,472 39.35% 4,051 3.16%
1884 72,217 55.34% 52,153 39.97% 6,121 4.69%
1880 74,052 51.46% 65,211 45.32% 4,640 3.22%
1876 66,300 56.64% 49,917 42.65% 828 0.71%
1872 61,426 67.86% 29,097 32.14% 0 0.00%
1868 70,502 62.41% 42,460 37.59% 0 0.00%
1864 67,805 59.07% 46,992 40.93% 0 0.00%
1860 62,811 62.24% 29,693 29.42% 8,414 8.34%
1856 67,279 61.34% 39,140 35.68% 3,270 2.98%
1852 32,543 39.60% 41,609 50.63% 8,030 9.77%
1848 35,273 40.25% 40,195 45.87% 12,157 13.87%
1844 34,378 40.48% 45,719 53.83% 4,836 5.69%
1840 46,612 50.23% 46,190 49.77% 0 0.00%
1836 14,803 38.21% 22,825 58.92% 1,112 2.87%

In state general elections, Maine voters tend to accept independent and third-party candidates more frequently than most states. Maine has had two independent governors: James B. Longley (1975–1979) and Angus King (1995–2003), who currently serves in the US Senate. Maine state politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, are noted for having more moderate views than many in the national wings of their respective parties.

Maine is an alcoholic beverage control state.

On May 6, 2009, Maine became the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage; however, the law was repealed by voters on November 3, 2009. On November 6, 2012, Maine, along with Maryland and Washington, became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage at the ballot box.[3]

Party registration as of October 2022[4]
Party Total voters Percentage
Democratic 339,103 37.48%
Republican 272,003 30.06%
Unenrolled 257,565 28.47%
Green 35,061 3.88%
Libertarian 942 0.10%
Total 904,674 100.00%
Party registration by Maine county (October 2022)
  Democrat >= 30%
  Democrat >= 40%
  Republican >= 30%
  Republican >= 40%
  Unenrolled >= 30%

Federal politics

In the 1930s, Maine was one of very few states which retained Republican sentiments. In the 1936 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt received the electoral votes of every state other than Maine and Vermont; these were the only two states in the nation that never voted for Roosevelt in any of his presidential campaigns, though Maine was closely fought in 1940 and 1944. In the 1960s, Maine began to lean toward the Democrats, especially in presidential elections. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey became just the second Democrat in half a century to carry Maine, perhaps because of the presence of his running mate, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie, although the state voted Republican in every presidential election in the 1970s and 1980s.

Treemap of the popular vote by county, 2016 presidential election

Since 1969, two of Maine's four electoral votes have been awarded based on the winner of the statewide election; the other two go to the highest vote-getter in each of the state's two congressional districts. Every other state except Nebraska gives all its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state at large, without regard to performance within districts. Maine split its electoral vote for the first time in 2016, with Donald Trump's strong showing in the more rural central and northern Maine allowing him to capture one of the state's four votes in the Electoral College.[5]

Ross Perot achieved a great deal of success in Maine in the presidential elections of 1992 and 1996. In 1992, as an independent candidate, Perot came in second to Democrat Bill Clinton, despite the long-time presence of the Bush family summer home in Kennebunkport. In 1996, as the nominee of the Reform Party, Perot did better in Maine than in any other state.

Maine has voted for Democratic Bill Clinton twice, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. In 2016, Republican Donald Trump won one of Maine's electoral votes with Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton winning the other three. Although Democrats have mostly carried the state in presidential elections in recent years, Republicans have largely maintained their control of the state's U.S. Senate seats, with Edmund Muskie, William Hathaway and George J. Mitchell being the only Maine Democrats serving in the U.S. Senate in the past fifty years.

In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans made major gains in Maine. They captured the governor's office as well as majorities in both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since the early 1970s. However, in the 2012 elections Democrats managed to recapture both houses of Maine Legislature.

Maine's U.S. senators are Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King. The governor is Democrat Janet Mills. The state's two members of the United States House of Representatives are Democrats Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden.

Maine is the first state to have introduced ranked-choice voting in federal elections.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Leip, David. "General Election Results—Maine". United States Election Atlas. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Maine". US Election Atlas. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Maine Passes Gay Marriage in Historic 'Question 1' Vote". The Huffington Post. November 7, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Voter Registration Data, Election Data and Online Forms". Maine Secretary of State. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Trump takes 1 of Maine's 4 electoral votes, in a first for the state". November 8, 2016.
  6. ↑ Seely, Katharine Q. (3 December 2016). "Maine Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting. What Is It, and How Will It Work?". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
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