Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
While leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom seek to “Trump-proof” their states, Maine Democrats still in control of Augusta as well as liberal advocacy groups are similarly bracing for another four years of President-elect Donald Trump.
Those plans are likely to be limited. Although Democrats can propose constitutional amendments, they could not pass them without Republican support. Democrats have already enacted various abortion- and LGBTQ-rights protections after winning the Legislature and governor’s office in 2018, when Trump was midway through his first term.
Trump’s second term could nonetheless greatly affect Maine, a rural state that backed Vice President Kamala Harris last week but saw its more conservative, northern half support Trump for the third straight election. Trump has already vowed to halt offshore wind projects on “day one” of his new term, which would end Maine’s ambitious plans on that front.
Gov. Janet Mills, who has taken more moderate positions on various issues than her Democratic peers in the Legislature, is unlikely to match Newsom in calling for a special session next month to bolster “California values” after Trump’s win. Leaders of Maine groups that take more liberal positions on hot-button issues said they are preparing to counteract Trump.
“It’s important to start recognizing a Trump presidency is incompatible with our climate goals,” Lucy Hochschartner, the climate and clean energy director for Maine Conservation Voters, said.
Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental rules during his first term and removed the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement meant to reduce global emissions. But Hochschartner said Maine lawmakers can continue to expand renewable energy options and urge the federal government to distribute all remaining Inflation Reduction Act funding.
State-level solar subsidies have faced scrutiny due to higher bills for certain businesses and residents. Maine has still yet to release federal funding for a Solar for All program that will serve low-income households. The Governor’s Energy Office said in a statement it expects federal energy and environmental policies to change under Trump.
“The state of Maine will remain resolute in its determination to bring down the cost of energy, to diversify our energy portfolio by pursuing more clean energy sources and to create jobs and grow our economy,” the office said.
Rep. Dick Campbell, R-Orrington, the lead Republican on the Legislature’s environment committee, criticized advocacy groups for warning about Trump and said they have “destroyed Maine with their overreactions.”
“If they really want to protect the environment, we need to be working together on that,” Campbell said.
Abortion has drawn passionate debates in Maine and other states since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority cemented by Trump overturned in 2022 the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Mills and Democratic legislators have since bolstered Maine’s liberal abortion policies, but a proposal to enshrine “reproductive autonomy” in the Maine Constitution failed to receive the needed two-thirds support earlier this year.
Trump has insisted he won’t support a national abortion ban, but abortion-rights advocates are wary given the GOP now has control of Congress. Destie Hohman Sprague, the executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, said her group and allies are still working to build enough legislative support for codifying abortion rights in the Constitution and passing an Equal Rights Amendment to outlaw gender discrimination in case future lawmakers try to overturn existing protections in state law.
However, that amendment has also previously failed to receive two-thirds support, even with Democrats controlling Augusta. Their legislative majorities narrowed in the November election, meaning these efforts will remain largely symbolic going into 2025.
On immigration, Trump has promised to carry out the largest deportation program in U.S. history. Experts have said he could do that legally, but the political and logistical challenges are immense. Trump’s plans have members of Maine’s immigrant community on edge.
“The incoming administration’s threats of mass immigration enforcement, raids and deportation would destroy Maine’s economy, rip families and communities apart and do lasting, generational harm to our state’s future,” Lisa Parisio, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project’s policy director, said.
The group is preparing materials to help Maine towns, businesses, schools and lawmakers with any changes, urging expanded funding for legal aid and for lawmakers to pass policies ensuring children separated from parents “have resources and protection.”
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance repeatedly criticized transgender rights in the closing stretch of the campaign, with Trump pledging to get “transgender insanity the hell out of our schools” and to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
Suicide prevention organizations for LGBTQ+ youth reported a national surge in calls to their crisis hotlines last week after the election. Bre Danvers-Kidman, the co-director of transgender advocacy group MaineTransNet, noted the Democratic-led Legislature has put in place health care protections for LGBTQ+ Mainers, such as a “shield” law Mills signed this year to prevent conservative-led states from suing Maine doctors or patients.
EqualityMaine Executive Gia Drew said she is worried about residents with anti-LGBTQ+ views feeling emboldened to make hate-filled comments at the local level, such as at school board meetings. But Drew has reassured LGBTQ+ Mainers they live in “a really good place.”
“Don’t despair,” Danvers-Kidman added. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
