Rooks: Maine primaries have waned, but they're still essential
Ready or not, Mainers vote in their primary election next week, June 14.
A “primary election” – never just “primary” – was a big deal when, a century ago, Maine amended its Constitution to repeal the “smoke-filled room” – party caucuses that were the sole means for candidates to get on the ballot.
Amid Progressive-era fervor, we also got the initiative and referendum system for enacting state laws and direct election of U.S. senators by voters, rather than state legislatures.
It hasn’t been all downhill from there, but there’s no doubt primary elections aren’t what they used to be, and ideological homogenization is the result.
At one time, incumbent Maine governors often faced primary challengers. Now, it’s only in the opposition party, or when there’s an open seat.
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As recently as the 1970s, there were challengers in both major parties, and those challenges helped shape Maine’s political history.
In 1966, incumbent Gov. John Reed faced a challenge from a young attorney named Jim Erwin in the Republican primary, and though he won, it signaled Reed had been governor too long – seven years, when no previous governor had served more than four.
That November, 35-year-old Ken Curtis ousted Reed, the last time an incumbent facing re-election lost.
Four years later, after Curtis collaborated with Republican leaders to enact a progressive income tax, a previously unknown anti-tax crusader named Plato Truman got a third of the vote in the Democratic primary. Curtis prevailed over Erwin in November 1970 – one of the closest elections ever.
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Had Curtis lost, the income tax probably would have been repealed, and Maine might have been one of those rare Northeastern states, like neighboring New Hampshire, without one.
Predictably, there are no primary challengers to incumbent Democrat Janet Mills or her Republican opponent, former governor Paul LePage. There’s only one independent candidate, primary care physician Sam Hunkler.
It’s too bad. Primaries' results once told volumes about what voters were thinking. Peter Kyros, a bright Democratic Congressman from the 1st District who unfortunately looked down on constituents, had a primary challenger every time until he lost in 1974 – to 26-year-old Republican David Emery, one of Maine’s biggest upsets.
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Today, it’s by no means clear Mills represents mainstream thinking among Democrats – witness her numerous vetoes, and anomalous positions on taxes and guns.
LePage, meanwhile, is a default option. He governed through the force of his own personality, with no more concern for party-building than Donald Trump.
Still, there are numerous contests in at least some parts of the state. Cumberland County has a lively Democratic primary race for district attorney, a partial rerun of the 2018 contest in which both the Republican and Democratic candidates withdrew.
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The Democrat, Jon Gale, almost certainly would have won, but he was, bizarrely, forced out by state Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett a few days before the election over rumors about long-ago sexual misconduct allegations.
Jonathan Sahrbeck, the independent who won by default, is now running as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Democratic county against Jackie Sartoris of Brunswick, one of Gale’s 2018 rivals. Should be interesting.
Legislative races are always tough for recruiting, given low pay, long hours and, now, many outraged constituents. There are relatively few contested primaries.
I count six in the Senate – two in District 8, where a moderate Democrat, Jill Dill, is term-limited.
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The House seems better, with two dozen contests, about equally divided between parties, but given many more members, not really. Weigh it against 18 districts with no competition in November; only one candidate filed.
Democrats usually out-recruit the GOP, but not this time: 11 of the 18 getting a free pass are Republicans.
At least in Maine, the verb “primaried” is rarely used, as when one wing of a party declares war on the other, currently happening nationally, with the divide over the former president. We use these contests for their intended purpose, even if there are too few.
And yes, there’s a question that often comes up: Why does Maine vote in June, when all the other New England states vote later? Nationally, most states have early primaries, with Texas – absurdly – beginning March 1.
Vermont and Connecticut vote in August, and Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island on Sept. 13, the latest primary date.
The reason: Maine, until 1960, held its general election in September for all offices except president – origin of the “As goes Maine, so goes the nation” slogan. Only after Gov. Ed Muskie convinced Republican leaders to change the Constitution did Maine finally shift to November.
The primary election remains in June, so winners can now choose to go the beach, or keep knocking on doors.
Douglas Rooks, a Maine editor, commentator and reporter since 1984, is the author of three books. His first, “Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible,” is now out in paperback. He welcomes comment at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine primaries have waned, but they're still essential
