The one thing I still don’t understand about Maine’s fascinating politics (and its flag)

I’ve lived in Portland, Maine since 2021. I moved here from Massachusetts, where I’d lived for 42 years.

In Massachusetts, it seemed like nearly everybody I knew came from somewhere else originally. Lots of people come to Massachusetts for college and then never leave (which was my story, too). If you’re from California, it’s probably much the same. As a result, there’s not much distinction or discrimination between the natives and the new people.

In Maine, though, there are the people who’ve lived here a long time — generations — and the new people. I may be a Maine resident, but I’m not a Mainer. It’s not like people are hostile. It’s just a distinction that everybody understands.

Maine’s political climate is also interesting. Much of the population is in towns along the coast, including the largest, Portland, where I live. Portland still has only 69,000 people, so it’s not some booming metropolis.

The coastal and southern part of the state is fairly liberal. The rest of the population is spread out in a vast rural area that takes up most of the state’s geography. A lot of that is just forest, but there are also plenty of small rural towns. That part of the state is predictably more favorable to Donald Trump. The second district is a swing district, having voted for both Democrats and Republicans in past elections.

How Maine votes

In terms of absolute votes, there are more liberals than conservatives in Maine — but no one has an overwhelming majority.

Maine’s voting system is unusual, and more small-d democratic than other states. For one thing, the presidential vote is split: each congressional district counts for one electoral vote, and the whole state counts for two. (This is also true for Nebraska.) In this election, Kamala Harris won the state overall with 52% and the coastal first congressional district with 59%, but Trump won the rural second congressional district with 53%.

The second peculiarity is that Maine uses ranked choice voting. You vote for your first choice, second choice, and so on for each office. If no one gets a majority of first-choice votes, then the second-choice votes for the lowest-polling candidates are distributed to the other candidates until one candidate tops 50%. This came into play, for example, in the vote for an open seat on the Portland City Council, where candidates Ben Grant and Jess Falero were nearly tied with 26% of the first-place votes. Falero, a democratic socialist, had clear appeal for some people, but the more mainstream candidate Grant had broader appeal and more experience, which won him enough second-choice votes to win. Ranked choice voting tends to favor moderates who can generate broad approval, and also limits the effectiveness of negative campaigning, because nasty accusations against a candidate rarely get you second-choice votes from that candidate’s supporters.

Maine just re-elected its senator, the former governor Angus King, who is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, with 52% of the vote. Our other senator is Susan Collins, a moderate Republican.

The votes for members of the US house were interesting. Democrat Chellie Pingree predictably swept the first district. But in the second district, the incumbent, Jared Golden, was up against Austin Theriault, a Trump supporter. As of this writing, Golden has 50.02% of the votes and Therault, 49.66%. If the last few votes take Golden below 50%, they’ll have to start tallying second-choices of the 1,231 people who wrote in votes for other candidates. Golden will likely win, but it will be extremely close.

Here’s the part I don’t understand, about the state flag

There were five statewide ballot questions. A question limiting PAC contributions and three questions for bond issues all passed.

The fifth question concerned the Maine state flag. Here is the current Maine state flag:

A farmer, a sailor, a latin word (Dirigo = “I lead”), a stylized star, and a freakin’ moose, all on a blue background. Plus the word “Maine” just in case you didn’t realize that was the name of the state. Charmless.

Question 5 proposed replacing this with an older flag that is very popular among Mainers:

Everyone I know seems enamored of the pine-tree flag. It’s more easily recognizable and is clearly a better design. It’s great on hats and T-shirts and I’ve seen it on many flags people hang from their front porches. You can love this flag. You can’t love the other flag.

And yet, after a statewide vote, the new flag lost, 55% to 45%.

I recognize that I’m new here. And I understand the politics of the rural areas of the state is different from the place where I live.

But come on, people. Sometimes change is good for you, especially in something like a flag, which doesn’t impact our daily lives except when it gives us something to feel good about. Are you just so sick of the pine trees you see out your window that you couldn’t vote for one? Heck, there are more pine trees on the old flag than this one.

The nation clearly wanted whatever Donald Trump represents more than what they thought Kamala Harris represented. But what was Maine’s problem with a clearly better flag?

I guess I still have a lot to learn about Maine.