State Legislative Candidates For November Ballot Set

Under the Dome: Inside the Maine State House provides a high-level overview of recent activity at the Maine State House.

State Legislative Candidates for November Ballot Set

The deadline for local party committees to replace withdrawn legislative candidates on November's ballot has now passed, determining which names will appear on the ballot. All 151 House seats and 35 Senate seats in the Maine Legislature are up for reelection. Both parties have named candidates for almost all of these 186 contests, with Republicans running candidates in all but four races and Democrats running candidates in all but ten races. These 14 "uncontested" races are not necessarily uncontested, as major party candidates may still face unenrolled and Green Party candidates on the ballot. With the passing of this deadline, both Parties took the opportunity to publically discuss their optimistic prospects for November and to extol the quality of their candidates this election year.

Wording of Same-Sex Marriage Question Set

This week, Secretary of State (and U.S. Senate Candidate) Charlie Summers announced the final wording of the ballot question that would authorize same-sex marriage in Maine. The Secretary of State's Office originally proposed asking "Do you want to allow same-sex couples to marry?" Both proponents and opponents of the ballot initiative opposed this wording and over 600 public comments were received by the Secretary of State's Office in reaction to the original question. The question has now been revised to ask "Do you want to allow the State of Maine to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples?" While not completely satisfied, both proponents and opponents of the ballot initiative seem to prefer the new wording of this question, which will appear on the general election ballot in November.

Federal Election Roundup

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has recently endorsed Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and current Secretary of State, Charlie Summers. This week, that endorsement turned into tangible support as the U.S. Chamber began airing an advertisement attacking another candidate for this seat, former Governor Angus King (unenrolled). This ad has appeared on a number of Maine stations in what is reported as a $200,000 ad buy. Whether Mainers can expect additional out-of-state spending in...

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