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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He is in-house counsel to a number of businesses in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
It’s done.
The 2024 election is now behind us. Over the next few days, weeks — and months, and years — people will pour over the results to try and glean some insights about what happened and why Donald Trump was sent back to the White House.
Maine once again split its electoral votes, with President-elect Trump winning inland towns throughout the state — along with one Electoral College vote — while Vice President Kamala Harris cleaned up in coastal communities.
Does this mean Maine, as a state, is hopelessly conflicted? Or are there areas of agreement hiding behind the headline presidential votes?
I’ll suggest the latter. All politics is local. And the results of some of the local referendum questions highlight where people might agree. That is solid ground for the next Maine Legislature to build on over Gov. Janet Mills’ final two years.
In York, one squabble grew so large that it made it into the Wall Street Journal. Call it a whisky rebellion. A local distillery wanted to expand their ability to age spirits. Some residents were worried about an increase in “whiskey fungus” harming their properties.
It spilled over into a citizen referendum. “Yes” would have adopted a new, strict ordinance governing distilleries, including a 25-acre lot requirement. “No” would reject the ordinance.
The pro-business “no” vote won handily, 5,527 to 3,195.
Moving up the coast, posh Cape Elizabeth faced a $95 million question. More specifically, they had a school bond on the ballot to borrow that amount. The town council opposed it; the school board supported it. Passing it would have led to a 12 percent property tax increase.
The race was tight, but the fiscally-conservative “no” vote carried the day 3,448 to 3,282.
Portland also faced a major economic referendum question. Back in 2020, the Democratic Socialists of America led the charge on a bunch of referendum questions. One created so-called “hazard pay,” which effectively increased the minimum wage whenever there was an emergency.
However, the way they wrote the ordinance, any emergency declared by the governor triggered the big jump in pay. So when Farmington faced floods last year, Gov. Mills declared an emergency. Which triggered “hazard pay” in Portland.
It was illogical. So Portland’s City Council put a question on the ballot, asking voters whether “hazard pay” should be limited to city-declared emergencies.
The pro-business proposal won by a vote of 20,327 to 14,376.
Kamala Harris won handily in York, Cape Elizabeth, and Portland. Each community is fully represented by Democrats in the Maine Legislature. At first glance, they don’t seem to have much in common with Presque Isle, Lincoln, or Rumford. The latter three all were Trump towns.
But looking a little deeper uncovers a bit more. Exit polls indicated that Trump’s support sprang from economic concerns. Put more succinctly, Democratic Strategic James Carville’s old saying — “It’s the economy, stupid” — rang true once again.
It seems that voters of all stripes shared major economic concerns, irrespective of their presidential choice. Liberal coastal voters, when asked a discrete question about whisky, borrowing, or “hazard pay,” chose the more pro-economy option.
The next iteration of the Maine Legislature will take office soon. Focusing on growing Maine’s economy should be their lodestar.
The election is finally done. Whatever happens in Washington, it’s time to get to work helping Mainers get to work. That seems like something we can all agree on.
