Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information throughout.
Maine Gov.-elect Hannah Pingree was greeted by several dozen well-wishers when she returned home to North Haven on an evening ferry Wednesday, winning the election to become Maine’s next governor.
As Pingree walked off the ferry in the dark, she was met by a cheering crowd holding signs, waving flags and playing music. She stopped to hug many of them, a moment captured in drone footage shot by North Haven High School and Mid-Coast School of Technology senior King Arthur (real name).
“The whole community is rooting for her,” Arthur said, explaining that the welcome party emerged through “a big game of telephone,” with one islander calling another to say Pingree was on the ferry and they were going down to the dock to meet her.
While others made signs or brought musical instruments, Arthur, an aspiring photographer and videographer who goes by @kingscamera777 on TikTok, grabbed his brand-new DJI drone, which he had purchased just two weeks earlier and was still learning to fly.
“It wasn’t even planned. It was just kind of the whole community wanting to show up for Hannah,” he said. “I think that says a lot about her connection to the community.”
Pingree and her mother, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, both won overwhelming majorities on the offshore island in Penobscot Bay.
Hannah Pingree won 222 of the 284 votes cast for governor on North Haven, a whopping 78% of the vote. Republican Bobby Charles won 16% and independent Rick Bennett won 5%. Both Pingrees even received more votes on North Haven than District Attorney Natasha Irving, who ran unopposed and received 203 votes.
His mother now works at a preschool that Pingree helped fund. Pingree is also a regular at From Away Farm, the farm stand his family runs on South Shore Road, where they grow produce and flowers.
“Hannah always stops by, supports all the local businesses,” he said.
Not everyone on the island is a fan of the Democrat, of course.
“My buddy heard someone going on a like 30-minute rampage about Hannah at the grocery store yesterday,” he said with a laugh, adding that it’s just a small pocket of dissent on the tiny island. “She has a lot of money but she uses it well.”
Most islanders, he said, are excited to have someone they know in power who understands their issues.
“It’s hard to have a voice on such a small island,” he said.
And there is one major issue he and others on the island are hoping Pingree can help tackle from Augusta: housing.
“On the island right now, we are in a full-blown housing crisis. We are losing industries because people can’t find housing. We lost three teachers this year at my school because they can’t find housing. We just can’t get people out here to work,” he said, noting the island lacks rental options.
“You can’t really commute from the mainland to the island. They have to be here and they can’t be here.”
It’s a bitter irony in a place with palatial waterfront vacation homes that sit vacant most of the year.
“At the same time, we need those big empty houses. It’s bringing in a lot of property tax revenue that’s paying for the school,” he said.
“I hope,” he said, “she can fix that somewhat.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.