Maine’s twin cities at all times appear to discover a method to the middle of Maine politics.
The Franco-American heart of Lewiston and Auburn has been pivotal in elections courting again to the Nineteen Seventies, swinging between Democratic and Republican victors in key elections.
A wave of African immigration to the 2 cities since 2000 now makes Androscoggin County the youngest and most numerous one in Maine. Due to that, it’s the Maine county most carefully resembling the U.S. as a complete.
Over time, there have been few elections with a extra direct line by Lewiston than the one this November. Gov. Janet Mills is from Farmington, however the Democrat minimize her tooth in politics as the primary girl to function a Maine district legal professional based in Lewiston. Former Gov. Paul LePage was born there. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District lives there now and is from close by Leeds. His opponent in a nationally focused race, former Rep. Bruce Poliquin has Franco heritage and household ties there.
In 2020, the county was gained by former President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and Golden. Trump misplaced Lewiston and Auburn. Mills misplaced the county in 2018, however she gained Lewiston and Auburn. LePage, a Republican, gained the county and the 2 key cities in his 2010 and 2014 elections.
Previously few years, a north-south pattern of political polarization has escalated in Maine. The Portland suburbs have grown extra Democratic by celebration registration, whereas inland areas are usually extra pink. The Lewiston space was polarized already, and it has not grown far more. The cities are barely extra Democratic than they have been in 2018, whereas the agricultural and conservative areas within the north and west are solely a pale shade redder.
Early polling within the Mills-LePage race exhibits a detailed statewide race composed of bloody electoral matchups for each candidates in every congressional district. One spring survey confirmed Mills main within the liberal 1st District by about 14 proportion factors, with LePage up by practically that a lot within the 2nd District. She has had solely slim leads to date in public polls which might be largely backed up by inside polling that I’ve heard about from sources in each events.
Successful Lewiston could also be barely tougher for LePage this time, with solely the little-known unbiased Sam Hunkler on the poll alongside him and Mills in 2022. The profitable statewide map for the Republican in all probability features a shut margin round Lewiston, not getting crushed within the Portland suburbs and operating up an enormous margin within the 2nd District total. The first District ought to go for Mills handily. If she runs up big margins there, she will maintain on.
The candidates’ private histories, Maine’s political geography and the Lewiston space’s obstinate group of swing voters make the realm the fulcrum of the most important races this 12 months. Reporters can be spending lots of time at Simones’ Scorching Canine Stand. That’s at all times a lunch deal that’s OK with me.
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