Communities across Maine will hold elections Tuesday to decide a variety of primary contests and local issues.
Voters registered as Democrats or Republicans will have the chance to select candidates to run for Congress and the State House this fall. And virtually all voters in southern Maine will get to decide local referendum questions, such as whether to approve school budgets and, in a couple of towns, whether to ban plastic grocery bags. Some towns also will elect people to oversee schools or town government.
Polls in southern Maine open as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 8 a.m., depending on the community. Voting closes in all communities at 8 p.m. Results will be posted as they come in at pressherald.com and published in the Portland Press Herald on Wednesday.
All southern and coastal Maine communities are participating in a congressional primary between two Republicans: Mark Holbrook, a psychologist and former police officer, and Ande Smith, a Navy veteran and attorney who runs his own cybersecurity consulting firm. Whoever wins the party’s nomination Tuesday will run in November against Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree in the 1st District.
Many communities across the state also will take part in one of 30 contested state legislative primary contests, four of which are taking place in Portland.
The Portland primaries are all on the Democratic side, a reflection of the city’s standing as a stronghold for progressive politicians. Each of the winners Tuesday will face opposition in November from Republican candidates and, in a couple of cases, from Green Independent candidates, too.
Two open state Senate seats in Portland have attracted the most attention.
Rep. Ben Chipman, Rep. Diane Russell and Dr. Chuck Radis are competing in a hard-fought primary for Senate District 27, which covers the eastern half of the city and its islands. That seat is being vacated by Democrat Justin Alfond, the former Senate president and current Senate minority leader, who cannot run again because of term limits.
State Rep. Mark Dion, former state Rep. Ann Peoples and longtime Portland City Councilor Jill Duson are hoping to earn the Democratic nomination in District 28, which includes parts of Portland and Westbrook. That seat is being vacated by Sen. Anne Haskell, who is retiring from politics.
Portland also has two primaries for seats in the Maine House of Representatives.
Herbert Adams, Anna Kellar and Rachel Talbot Ross are running in the Democratic primary for House District 40, which encompasses the western half of the city’s peninsula and part of the Oakdale neighborhood. The seat is currently held by Chipman, who is running for the state Senate.
Andrew Edwards and Michael Sylvester are competing in the Democratic primary for House District 39, which includes the eastern end of Portland’s peninsula and its islands. The seat has been held by Russell, who has to step down because of term limits and is running for state Senate.
In Biddeford, Democrats will choose a nominee to run for the Senate seat in District 32. Susan Deschambault, who won the seat in a special election in March, is running against Joanne Twomey, a former mayor and state representative.
In the Saco area, Democrats will choose the party’s nominee for a vacant seat in Senate District 31. Two sitting state representatives, Justin Chenette and Barry Hobbins, face each other in that race and hope to replace Sen. Linda Valentino, a Democrat who is retiring from politics to care for her mother.
Voters in nearly every community will have a chance to choose whether to approve their school budgets, decisions that will affect classrooms and tax bills starting in July. One big exception is Portland, which held a special election to approve its school budget in May.
While most school budgets have drawn little attention or controversy, Yarmouth’s has been the focus of unusually intense opposition. More than 500 people attended a meeting last week in Yarmouth, giving preliminary approval to the budget proposal and setting the stage for what is likely to be a big turnout at the polls Tuesday.
Some communities will elect new leadership.
North Yarmouth will choose members of the Board of Selectmen. Cumberland will choose members of the regional school board.
Among the closely watched local decisions will be referendum proposals to ban plastic grocery bags in Freeport and Kennebunk.
A number of Maine communities, including Portland, South Portland and Falmouth, have imposed 5-cent fees on plastic and paper shopping bags as a way to discourage waste and litter. Last year, York became the first town in Maine to ban plastic shopping bags.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
