AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate on Monday defeated a proposal to remove the state from a national popular vote compact that seeks to nullify the Electoral College.
The Senate’s 18-16 vote to defeat the bill from Rep. Barbara Bagshaw, R-Windham, came several weeks after the Maine House of Representatives passed the measure in May thanks to three Democrats joining with Republicans to back it. The Senate moved straight to a roll call Monday rather than debating the bill, with Sens. Craig Hickman of Winthrop and Jill Duson of Portland the only Democrats to join Republicans in supporting Bagshaw’s proposal.
Last year, the Democratic-controlled Legislature narrowly approved a proposal from Rep. Arthur Bell, D-Yarmouth, to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which currently includes 18 states accounting for 209 electoral votes.
The agreement would take effect if enough states join it to account for the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency outright. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, let Bell’s bill become law without her signature last spring, saying “there is merit to both sides of the argument” and that she “would like this important nationwide debate to continue.”
Months after Maine joined the compact, President Donald Trump won the November election over former Vice President Kamala Harris by a 312-226 margin in the Electoral College. Trump also won the popular vote by receiving about 49.8 percent of votes to 48.3 percent for Harris.
While the Pew Research Center has found a majority of Americans favor a national popular vote model, different polls have revealed mixed sentiment among Mainers on the effort. A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll last August showed Mainers were divided on the state joining the national compact, while a February 2024 survey from Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research found more than 70 percent of respondents favor that change.
Past debates over the issue drew passionate and colorful comments. Former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, said in 2019 that “white people will not have anything to say” under a national popular vote system.
Maine and Nebraska are the only two states to split Electoral College votes by congressional district, with two at-large votes going to the statewide popular vote winner. Supporters of the national popular vote initiative have argued the Electoral College is antiquated and makes presidential candidates only focus on a few battleground states.
Opponents of the system said it would result in candidates caring less about Maine and more about densely populated cities. Bagshaw said a national popular vote would have forced Maine to send all of its votes to Trump last November despite a majority of the state backing Harris. Trump earned one vote from the 2nd District in each of his three elections.
