AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Democrats proclaimed Tuesday’s special election in Senate District 20 that saw Democrat Chris Johnson upset Republican Dana Dow as a “repudiation of the Republican agenda” in Augusta.
Party Chairman Ben Grant said the message from the election was clear and it had little to do with Johnson or Dow.
“[Gov.] Paul LePage’s agenda is wrong for Maine, and Republican legislators have been far too willing to fall in line in the face of mounting evidence that the GOP’s plans aren’t working,” Grant said.
Even Dow, who currently represents District 50 in the Maine House, admitted as much.
“I would simply say this vote represents a referendum on the governor and maybe the budget we are trying to get passed,” he told the Lincoln County News. “That might have something to do with it. I don’t feel it’s a referendum on Dana Dow. It’s bigger than that. When people are looking for change anything can happen.”
The win changes little in the short term. Once Johnson is sworn in, there will be 19 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one unenrolled senator.
Democrats, however, will try to parlay Tuesday’s results into success in November, when the remainder of the House and Senate seats are up for grabs. Republicans took control of both chambers during the 2010 elections, ending decades of legislative rule by Democrats in Maine.
Asked whether he thought Democrats were reading too much into Tuesday’s win, Grant replied, “the Republicans are at risk in not taking enough from this.”
“The people of Maine didn’t trust the Republicans for 40 years and, in one year, we’ve been reminded why,” he added.
Johnson was formally welcomed as a a senator-elect during a press conference Wednesday attended by nearly all Senate Democrats. He said he heard from many residents in his district who are frustrated with what’s happening in Augusta.
He said lawmakers have an obligation to make decisions that protect the most vulnerable and to do so, “without pitting one group against another.”
If Dow’s candid assessment is right, will Republicans have to distance themselves from LePage in the coming months in order to survive?
Rep. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, the assistant House majority leader and a Senate candidate for 2012, said he doesn’t think Tuesday’s special election is indicative of Maine’s electorate at large.
“What’s lost in this is that the Democrats knew who they were running last fall, so [Johnson] had a lot more time to meet with voters,” Cushing said. “I think there is dissatisfaction of government as a whole, but I think local races are really about earning the trust of voters.”
Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster agreed.
“In my opinion; the next election will be about the welfare state. Do Mainers want to go backwards or shift a little closer to the center?” he said. “I don’t think an individual election changes the next one. It’s a good win for them but it doesn’t change our plans.”
Before Tuesday, the last special election was for House District 24 in Penobscot and Somerset counties. In that race last November, the Republican candidate, Raymond Wallace, defeated Democrat David Pearson and Independent Lesley Maynard, although House District 24 is more reliably Republican than Senate District 20.
Senate District 20 encompasses all of Lincoln County as well as Windsor in Kennebec County and Friendship and Washington in Knox County and is considered a swing district.
With all but one of the 22 towns that make up District 20 reporting, Johnson had 3,278 votes, or 54 percent, according to unofficial results from town officials. Dow took 2,815 votes, or 46 percent, and conceded the race at about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The seat had been held by David Trahan, who resigned late last year to lead the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Augusta.
Johnson actually lost to Trahan, 56 percent to 32 percent, during the 2010 election for the Senate District 20 seat.
It’s ONE lousy special election. Harbinger? Make me laugh!
Libby Mitchell only got 19% of the last governor’s election. Is that a harbinger that Democrats will lose that bad again? Not likely…and it means just about as much as this one special election. Harbinger? Hogwash!
See you at the voting booth in November.
Make way …Democrats coming through.
I wouldn’t get too excited though if Gay Marriage is on the ballot in November that will bring out a more conservative voting block that would actually hurt Liberals in the fall. The election could go either way but if Romney doesn’t win the nomination that would actually excite alot of Conservatives and Independents as well nationally including here in Maine to vote in November.
Lock your door, I think I saw one in Madison. Run, Run!!!
Keep dreaming. The Maine GOP is toast with or without the marriage equality measure. Maine independents separate out the issues, and it has a good chance to pass this time anyhow. In 09 voters narrowly defeated marriage equality but CRUSHED the right wing TABOR bill. Again, Mainers separate the issues. Gee, the hyocritical right wing is at it again. They don’t like “big government” but love to dictate what medical procedures you can have, who you can marry, and on and on. What a load of phonies.
Mitt is working on editing his remarks for his next 30-second spot. Hopefully, for the teapublicans’ sake he’ll have a follow-up apology, or, re-definition of what he said the day before.
But let’s face it – who else can claim to have created Massachusetts health care that helped spark National Health Care, and then deny he had anything to do with it? Mitt is still trying to get his words around an explanation that short circuited his move that would have allowed to GM and Chrysler to go into bankruptcy. And how can he explain his “love” – oh, yes, – his “love” for passing out Pink Slips? Great business man, who believes the only way to make money is to let a company go bankrupt.
However, he now takes his jacket and necktie off when he speaks. I never felt so good to know he’s trying to reach across that great divide, even if though it does get wider each day he speaks.
Not so sure. That Tea is getting cold.
“The people of Maine didn’t trust the Republicans for 40 years and, in one year, we’ve been reminded why,” he added.
That sentence pretty much sums it up.
Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean we trust the democrats–but the republicans are certainly less trustworthy and are proving it anew nearly every day.
This election was not a harbinger of what will happen in November 2012 at the polls. The harbinger of what will happen in November was the referendum last November when Maine voters voted 60-40 to over turn the radical right tea party Republicans trying to take away same day voter registration. What happened in Senate District 20 yesterday was a re affirmation of last November’s vote. Tea party Republicans refuse to see what the rest of the State of Maine voters already know. Come next January finding a Republican in Augusta will be more difficult then finding virgin in a brothel.
Kind of sad to think that folks who can deliver this sort of drivel have the vote.
LOL.
4mermainer is probably writing from some nice warm spot down south. I don’t think you have to worry about his vote here….
You got it right countyguy 82 degrees today in fact. I’m in Florida and have been since December 28. I will be back in my legal State of Residence the first of May. I am a registered voter in Maine just like I have been since 1967. The only time I have missed voting in Maine was for the 4 years I spent in the U.S. Marines and then I voted by absentee ballot.
Hey is that you Govenah LePage ?
Sit in denial if you like. The Maine GOP is going to get a thrashing in November and you know it. It couldn’t be more deserved.
Good bye GOP.
Yes. I too am looking forward to the day when the sales tax gets raised to pay for the expanded entitlement programs. The days when unions once again rule the politics and budgets of the state. I look forward to continued gaps in the funding of the hospitals, 17% non graduation rate and the continued exodus of our youth. With Democratic control we can be assured of maintaining our ranking at dead last of business friendliness. Higher taxes for all!
And LePage has done such a good job. Right??? BTW who rules the politics and budgets of the state now? Don’t be bitter.
Opps ! Likes!
He has ,
10 to one your opinion!
They can’t in the Republican caucus, unless they vote as the bosses want.
It’s passed down by the Koch brothers. Before any vote, Koch workers are directed who they should vote for.
It goes back to and is a part of that win at any cost thing.
It worked, it was needed when they couldn’t get elected, at all.
But NOW they have a record.
Their extremism, their “win at any cost”cost thing was just a step.
But they forgot they actually have to govern, too.
Clearly that was not on anyone’e mind when they nominated LePage.
Nor when they tried to place Palin a heartbeat… an old tortured guy’s one
at that … from being POTUS.
The record of the conservative/more “christian”/ “values” voter revolution thing, which goes back as far as Newt Version 1.0, at least,
and which INCLUDES The Silent Majority, The “Moral” Majority, TEA
and the 37 % of the vote “majority,
as well as the do nothing but obstruct, “no compromise” Freshman Congressional Class of 201o, not to mention,
the Bush economy and wrong headed wars,
all are part of THEIR RECORD, now.
THEIR RECORD has served to remind voters why Republicans have not controlled the State of Maine Government for thirty odd years.
The Greatest Generation, had Hoover, and they learned what happens when Republicans run the Government.
We had Bush, and his his tax cuts for the wealthy and optional wars.
Now, we have the open for business LePage crowd.
Have we learned anything yet ?
Apparently not. Many still cling to this teapublican propaganda and its quest to make sure President Obama only serves one term.
AAhhh…If only the minority, like yourself could have exclusive voting rights. I don’t think they call that a democracy though.
You sound like a republican to me, willing to deny the vote to anyone who disagrees with the party line. Kind of like the vote in communist Russia we used to read about.
As I stated below I would disagree Maine has turned gone more right as of late with repealing the Dirigio/Soda Tax Increase debacle, That farce Tax Reform bill which created over 125 new taxes on everything from car repairs, fairs, entertainment, circuses , movies etc. raised other taxes while creating complex taxes on certain items like candy. They repealed Gay Marriage. If it comes on the ballot again in November . I think that could hurt the Dems big time because alot of Conservatives, Independents, Tea Party, Libertarians would come out to vote it down and vote in Republicans as well. The Dems could be hurt as well because alot of folks don’t like their left wing policies and don’t like the amount of folks on welfare.
Hey DC. You could be right. However it could turn out to be just the opposite. I think there are a lot of people in Maine that see the gay marriage thing for what it really is. A civil rights issue and will turn out to make sure that a segment of our society is not deprived of their rights.
As I stated this issue , along with if Santorum and not Romney is the nominee could help turn out alot of Conservatives, Independents etc.. to vote. The Dems have the best chance to win the Senate now that Republicans only have a 3 seat majority after yesterday’s vote. But either way the way things have been going lately neither side is worth anything they are useless on all of the issues facing Maine.
Actually us 53% see Gay Marriage for what it is though a Radical sick perverted lifestyle. We see it as a major change to the way of life changing the traditional way of life that has gone on for centuries. If we give these people more special rights they will start taking over the agenda in our cities/towns and schools. They will have it taught in our schools. States that have legalized Gay Marriage and it being taught in schools has seen performance drop.
DC what is special about someone having the same exact rights that you have? Furthermore why do you really care what goes on in someone else’s bedroom? If you have people living together in your neighborhood who are gay how does that have anything to do with the way you live your life? We have a lot of really serious problems both in this State and the Nation and who is sleeping with who , at least to me, doesn’t rise to the level of serious. There was a time I felt pretty much the same way as you feel about gays, but one day I stopped and thought, “what business of mine is it what goes on in the bedroom of someone else’s house?” What the heterosexual couple across the street does in their bedroom is none of my business and shouldn’t it follow that what the gay couple next to them do is also none of my business? As long as they do not try to force their lifestyle on you how is it hurting you? You say that they will take over the agenda in cities/towns, but isn’t that something they could do even if they were not married? You say that in States that have legalized gay marriage that it is taught in schools and that performance has dropped. Which States are you talking about? In New England Mass legalized gay marriage before everyone else. I hadn’t heard where the performance of their schools have dropped. Do you have any evidence that it has? If you do I would be more then willing to read it. I am not in anyway attempting to change your mind, I know you are an intelligent person and that you have a right to your opinions. As far as I am concerned it is not a special rights issue. It is a civil rights issue and as long as we say all men are created equal then we should treat everyone as equals and not limit rights just because we don’t like who someone is sleeping with.
… “is you (conservatives) caring what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. Creepy!”
So is that phony separation of church and contraception thing, too.
The sick perverted lifestyle, is you caring what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. Creepy!
Boy, you’re really stirring the pot. All this sick perverted talk about liberals, and gay marriage corrupting our kids and schools.
Do you honestly know what a liberal is? What about a moderate?
Except Paul Lepage told
Matthew Gagnon the Editor In Chief of the conservative blog site Pine Tree Politics that he would abolish marriage licences all together and let every one have a civil union, gay , lesbian or “what ever” as Lepage phrased it.
That is real separation of church and State.
If marriage is a sacrament to you and you would not do it for all citizens,
you should not be a agent of State, anyway. Period.
Stomp on a glass, jump over a broom, symbolically dine on human flesh,
whatever voodoo you do,
you aren’t married UNTIL YOU SIGN THE STATE’S PAPER, anyway.
So get the church out the State’s business.
The only part of marriage that ever happens in a church, but it not required to be in a church,
is a wedding, sometimes.
That is how I understood Lepage’s position. I assume he picked it up from the Libertarian’s
It is the conservatives chasing their tails.
They rejected the Civil Union option, to begin with, years ago.
People forget THAT is when people started claiming marriage as civil right in the courts.
History
The first civil unions in the United States were offered by the state of Vermont in 2000. The federal government does not recognize these unions, and under the U.S.Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA), other U.S. states are not obliged to recognize them. By the end of 2006, Connecticut and New Jersey had also enacted civil union laws; New Hampshire followed in 2007. In 2010 Illinois passed a civil unions law. Furthermore, California’s domestic partnership law had been expanded to the point that it became practically a civil union law, as well. The same might be said for domestic partnerships in District of Columbia, domestic partnership in Washington, and domestic partnership in Oregon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_union_in_the_United_States
Get over it!
You live ina Civilized Society!
Get a job!
Pay your Taxes!
How about you get a job and stop living off of my and everyone else’s hard earned money. How about forking over more money for your Welfare Friends if you love it so much. Their is nothing civilized about Socialism and Liberalism with the Restrictive Nanny State thrown in.
We’ll be only too pleased to help if you need it.
Honestly Dlbrt, you should just ignore darkcat. He spouts the same garbage and baseless fantasies day after day. Most of us don’t bother with him anymore. He accuses anyone that disagrees with him as being a “welfare bum”.
Actually, marriage equality has a strong chance to pass this time (it was pretty close last time), people are utterly disgusted with LePage and the Maine GOP, and Maine independents who might not be keen on the marriage thing are more sophisticated than the low-information, low-thinking GOPers who think Fox is news and worship the drug addict Rush Limpmind. They separate out the issues. Maine independents are very pragmatic and are not single issue voters like the blunt-minded GOP TeaRadicals.
I’m an independant and really detest all the name calling by you so called ” smart people”. I wish you had moreto stand on than to make fun of others. Your true colors show what you are really about.
Well I hope you are saying the same thing to the right wingers who constantly call us “socialists, communists, welfare lovers…” As to “low information”, that is just the plain truth with many right wingers who live in front of propaganda like FakeNews and listen to trash like Limbaugh. An “independent” are you? What is your voting record?
I vote for someone I feel I can trust , someone who I think best represents my values , and someone who appears to have some leadership ability. However I do not see that candidate in either party right now ! By the way I grew up in a staunch Democratic family , my dad served 6 years in the state house as a representative. I grew up in a house full of broken promises and lies. When I returned from my service as a USN (1970-1974) medic I enrolled as an independent, it think it was then called unenrolled. I am currently enrolled as a Republican but since the Reagan years have voted as I described above. The best candidate (in my opinion) gets my vote. I have no patience with party line bickering or name calling and quite frankly am sick of it. Now be as honest with me !
DC, believe it or not you an I actualy agree on this one. That Dirgo Tax disaster led to God only knows how many little tax’s being inflicted on the small business community. The fabrication portion of that ‘mess’ has driven a huge number of small business right out of either business or right out of the State, and into neighboring NH, at the expense of the Maine economy. If the GOP, and the Dem’s, really want to get Maine back to work, and more importantly get the local economy’s moving again, then they need to sit down and start repealing, or at the very least severely refining, these nonsenseical tax’s that do nothing to increase revenue’s but do increase the State’s position in interfereing with the small business community’s ability to produce and make a profit.
Draw back your shades. Let a Little sunlight in.
As if the 37% will not come to vote for anyone but that Obama fellow, anyhow.
The gay rights issue will bring out the youth vote, too.
Yup. It will be an electoral thrashing for the Maine GOP in November. These radical TeaNuts do not come close to reflecting Maine values. Maine’s GOP was once a moderate/conservative group. Like so many GOPers around the country, their base even here in Maine has gone CorporatistTeaRadical with a bonafide arrogant bully at the helm, and we Mainers aren’t having it. The Maine GOP will be crushed at the ballot box come November.
Maine values as defined by a Liberal=Poverty ridden, under educated, dependent on government handouts, success is bad
sounds like you’re describing conservatives
Ridiculous. I’m a liberal millionaire.
Those who need assistance – God bless ’em – should get it. My ancestors wrote the Constitution – that’s why.
Sad day when you have to empty water bottles so you can buy a Coke with the refund. Give them a buck, help them out.
Who cares whether they’re republicans, democrats, independents, moderates, non-voters, out – of – stater s, or, just here for the day? Just be thankful you have a buck or two to spare and help someone who doesn’t.
That’s what America is all about.
The Republicans have managed to reverse their momentum in less than two years…probably because there was no substance, just angry rhetoric.
….
A reasonably dumb statement by Grant, shows little understanding or patience for bi-partisan agreements. It’s like he has a “my way or the highway approach”.
Have you forgotten that jsut recently the Maine Dems adjourned the legislature and called a fake emergency session that cost the taxpayers millions so that they could pass a simple majority budget that spent Maine into the poor house without Republican support? Bi-partisan indeed.
Nonsense. At the height of the recession Maine Dems cut $800million and without the LeBuffoon bullying and foolishness we have gotten from him and the Maine GOP which will take a serious pounding at the polls in November.
You mean when they “balanced” the budget by simply not paying the bills and selling valuable assets to connected Dem insiders? You can’t make this stuff up.
“My way or the highway.” Oh please. Your boy LeBuffoon is the king of “My way or the highway” which is exactly why his party will be crushed in November. Typical right wing hypocrisy.
The short answer?
Not in your wildest dreams BDN.
I don’t know if the Democrats can win the Senate seat, but the Republicans seem to be stepping all over themselves these days. They are beginning to look like the party that couldn’t shoot straight.
Maine’s Senators are RINOs, anyway, aren’t they ?
There are no pictures from the meet and greet, Lepage says he had with Ron Paul.
I think Ron Paul was afraid of being seen with Republican Governor Paul Lepage and so he only agreed to meet him behind closed doors with no one else present.
There’s a rumor that Le Page wanted to show Paul his private art collection.
Their is a bigger rumor that the meeting never took place and Lepage just made it up after the Paul campaign turned down his invitation.
No surprise. No republican needs a Le Page endorsement.
I will admit right up front I do not like Mr LePage playing governor of my state. He has interperted his 38% of the vote win as a mandate to use his my way or the highway mentality to try a push through his tea party agenda. Mr LePage you won the plurality of a three way race but you lost the majority of the vote which means you should be more open to compromise. The state, which we the citizens own, in these economic times need to adapt our spending and priorities to allow us to get through these difficult times. It does not include the wholesale gutting of state departments to meet any particular groups agenda. We the state have some moral obligation to our citizens and their needs.
That being said I am equally concerned with the posts that are being made that someone needs to vote for one party or the other. This reminds me of my father who has been mad since they removed the box at the top of the ballot that allowed you to vote a straight party line by filling in one box. He still believes ( and yes he still votes ) that if you do not vote republican you should not vote at all.
People I would implore you to look beyond party. Look at the individual rather they be republican, democrat or independent. Look to see if they support the style of government you want. If they are incumbents look at their voting history — if they have toed the party line they are probably not looking out for your concerns. If they are open to reasonable compromise while trying to gain support for what you believe in then they are probably the representative to vote for.
Picking one party over the other because of party loyalty is what gets us into these messes. When one party or the other interperts their election as some type of a mandate we the public gets dragged to one extreme or the other when some where toward the middle is where we want to be.
Nice sentiment, but the reason why LePage and the Maine GOP have gone so radical is because they are beating the drum of ALEC and other national right wing corporatist groups instead of governing as the fairly moderate to independent Maine GOP that they used to be. This is what has happened to the GOP nationwide. And it is why the Maine GOP needs to be summarily defeated in November. They have gone blanket CorporatistTeaRadical with an uberarrogant bully at their helm.
Only moderate Republicans are to blame for letting that come to be.
No. The answer is no.
The answer is obvious
yessah
The 61% are sick of LePage/MHPC/Charlie Webster/Brucie Poloquin/Swanson/Mayhew/ALEC/Koch Brothers mendacity and misrule.
Yup…it will be a harbinger…The right wing goofs went too far with their pendulum swing. Mental note for the Dems…don’t do the same thing in the other direction!!! The right wingers being voted out won’t be a clarion call for your agenda, it will be a clarion call for something in the middle.
How long will it take GOPer’s to share Party Chairman Ben Grant’s astute observation about Le Page’s Koch brothers and Tea Party ideology?