Good morning from Augusta. National party groups and even former President Barack Obama helped to kick-start Maine’s 2018 legislative campaigns recently, issuing a battery of endorsements and priority candidates that light up battlegrounds even if they won’t swing seats.
Legislative races are some of the hardest campaigns to evaluate in Maine because there are 186 spots to fill and they can be intensely local in nature, but they’re continually one of the more fascinating things in state politics to watch because the chambers are so evenly split.
Democrats have only a 74-70 plurality over Republicans in the House of Representatives, while Senate Republicans have just a 18-17 lead over Democrats. There will likely be slim majorities in the next Legislature no matter what happens, and that will set the tone for the next governor’s administration.
Parties are prioritizing the protection of leaders. The early race on everyone’s radar is the one between Assistant Senate Majority Leader Amy Volk of Scarborough, the only Republican leader who isn’t term-limited in her chamber, and former Rep. Linda Sanborn of Gorham.
To read the rest of “Early endorsements point to Maine legislative battleground districts,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
