AUGUSTA, Maine — Voters will decide on a design for a new state flag this November, after lawmakers defeated a proposal Friday to push the referendum to 2026.
After each chamber advanced it in April, the Senate voted 12-20 to not give final approval to the measure from House Majority Leader Mo Terry, D-Gorham, that would have delayed the state flag referendum for two years and created a five-member commission to assist the secretary of state in creating a design to replace the current version featuring the state seal.
The current flag featuring the state seal, a pine tree, moose, farmer and seaman on a blue background has been in place since 1909, but lawmakers passed last year a plan to let Maine voters decide on changing the flag back to the 1901 design featuring a pine tree and blue star on a buff background.
That came after passionate debate last year on the state flag and which design best captures what it means to be a Mainer. Lawmakers approved a bill from then-Rep. Sean Paulhus, D-Bath, last year with an amendment from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, to toss the question to voters. The Legislature had defeated similar bills on several occasions since 1991.
But while Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, initially moved to have the referendum occur this year, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, also a Democrat, testified in support of moving it to November 2026 after reaching out to her peer in Minnesota, which established a commission that met for 15 weeks before settling on a new state flag design in December.
Terry’s plan to push the referendum to 2026 looked like it would win out, especially after the Legislature’s budget committee approved it along with funding for 79 other bills earlier this week. The bill needed no additional money, with any new costs associated with the secretary of state’s office to create the commission deemed “minor” in a fiscal note.
But the Senate had to sign off on those budget committee decisions Friday, which was also the final day for lawmakers to take up the governor’s vetoes.
Twelve Democrats voted to approve Terry’s bill, but eight Democrats joined with all 12 Republicans present to defeat it. Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, had been one of the more vocal opponents who urged his colleagues to let voters finally settle the state flag debate this year.
