With the March 15 filing deadline less than 40 days away, races for the Maine State House, where Democrats hold a 96-55 majority, are beginning to take shape.
However, even at this late date, the picture is unclear. Although most of the seats have at least one candidate, well more than half do not yet have candidates from both parties. That makes it more than a little challenging to do any kind of analysis or forecast, so we’ll wait until later for that.
Our information, garnered from candidate filings withMaine Ethics, will be updated periodically. These listings will use the following notation to provide more information about each candidate or seat:
(OS, R/D): Open Seat. The R or D indicates which party currently holds the seat, Republican or Democrat. If there is a question mark next to OS, it means that while the seat is not officially open, another person from the incumbent’s party has filed their candidacy and the incumbent has not.
*: This candidate is the incumbent.
**: This person has previously served in the Maine Legislature.
(F): This person has previously run for the Legislature, unsuccessfully.
The candidate listings are current as of Saturday, February 6, 2010. We know of several people intending to run in both parties, but their names will not be added until they officially file as candidates. Please note in the comments if you believe we have missed any of these notes or made any errors. Thanks!
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The race in Brunswick's District 66 will be a three-way contest again, with Republican Jonathan Crimmins challenging Democrat Alex Cornell du Houx in a rematch. I'm the Green candidate this time, but just wanted to point out that you've got a typo in your list. My last name is spelled Horch (with an "H").
The Greens didn't have a win in the 2008 cycle, but we're still alive and well as a statewide party! In fact, the number of registered Green Independents may be at a record level. – Fred Horch
Thanks, Fred! We'll correct the name. So far, the number of Green candidates is about on pace with last year. Has the party recruited a number of folks who have yet to officially file?
I know that we have been working on recruiting people. I've heard rumors but I can't substantiate any undeclared Green candidates in our local area.
As I go through the process I'm taking notes and writing up a handbook, "How to Run as a Green Independent for State Representative in Maine."
If you're new to politics (as I am), you can be blindsided by the early deadlines. Most regular people in Maine are not thinking about going door to door in February for a November election. But you need to be out doing that if you want to get your signatures as a Green Independent. We're finding that it takes about 45 minutes per signature here in Brunswick. So that's an investment of almost 20 hours of calling and knocking on doors in order to get your 25 signatures to get on the ballot.
Another thing that Green candidates need is up-to-date mailing lists. We're working on that locally.
In general, this cycle we're still making progress as a viable political party in Maine.
I am the Democratic challenger in House District #60 (most of Topsham) and my name is spelled: Denise Tepler with 2 'e's in my last name. Thanks!