Following an election that yielded a shift of state legislative power toward the Democrats, the Lincoln County Republicans are faced with potentially defending their work from the last two years and developing a new strategy to reach out to voters.
Based on unofficial results of the Nov. 6 election reported by the press, Republicans are looking at a Democratic majority in both the house and senate. Democrats have elected 19 senators and 86 representatives, while Republicans elected 15 senators and 60 representatives.
In 2010, Republicans were elected to four out of five house seats and one of the two senate seats that represent Lincoln County. Based on the unofficial election results, Lincoln County will enter the next legislative session with Republicans holding just two house seats and neither of the senate seats.
In a message on the Lincoln County Republicans’ website, accessed on Nov. 13, Chairman Earl Inman wrote, “I don’t know about you, but my first reaction after the election was ‘I don’t believe it.’ My next thought was ‘I can’t believe people are so stupid.’ Once my frustration was gone, my third thought was ‘The Democrats out played us both locally and nationally despite the fact that we had great candidates and a better message.’ But that is history and we need to move ‘forward.'”
In a phone conversation on Nov. 12, Inman said “We have recovered from [the election] and looked at what’s gone on. We don’t have a formal strategy yet but we’re certainly moving forward.”
“I’m pretty sure [the Lincoln County Republicans] agree all our basic principles are valid,” Inman said. “We don’t expect to change … looking ahead I don’t think we’re going to do anything radically different.”
“The rules have changed somewhat so we have to adjust to those rules,” he said.
Broadening the Republican base and spending time educating young people on Republican ideals are important steps for the future, Inman said.
Young people get a lot of information from the media that causes them to lean toward the Democrats, Inman said. “When you talk to people one on one, you find they share a lot of what we stand for … when it comes to voting there’s something else going on sometimes.”
“I think we have to do a better job of getting out the vote,” Inman said. “The Democrats generally have a lot of blocs that support them,” such as special interest groups. “They do a good job in their own way in getting out the vote…We are more individuals and have to do more things individually that they do organizationally.”
Inman said special interest groups, public action committees, and negative advertising played a big role in the outcome of the election.
“We’ve got all this negative kind of environment; that’s hard to deal with. That’s driven a lot by money” both in Maine and on the national level, Inman said.
The shift in the legislature from Republican control “wasn’t necessarily a repudiation of what we did in the [last] two years,” Inman said.
Inman said Republicans accomplished a lot during their two years in power, such as tax cuts, welfare reform, changes to health care, and bringing charter schools to Maine.
“With all this good work that went on in the past year, how could we possibly not get elected?” Inman asked.
“I will be working hard to protect the significant reforms we enacted” during the last two years, said Representative Deb Sanderson (R-Chelsea) Nov. 12. “Not because they’re Republican reforms, but because I think they’re good reforms.”
On Nov. 6, Sanderson was re-elected in House District 52 for a second term.
“I think those reforms are worth preserving, and certainly we will work as hard as we can to preserve them, to keep them in play,” she said. “Is any particular bill perfect? Maybe not. I still think they were good; they were solid.”
“The outcome of the election was certainly disappointing. [Lincoln County] had a good representation of the Republican Party in the last two years and we’re down to two now. That’s the way things go,” Sanderson said.
“It’s very important that we don’t look at … the losses of the seats in Lincoln County as negative but look forward and work together…Just keep working with our colleagues across the aisle as we did for the last two years,” Sanderson said.
“Obviously we’re going to have some differences of opinion, to be kind, between the Democrats and [Governor Paul] LePage,” said Stuart Smith, the vice chairman of the Lincoln County Republicans. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens there. I’m sure the Democrats are going to try to roll back” some of the things from the last two years.”
“What I always think about is my son,” Smith said. “He’s a young kid, and when he becomes an adult, what kind of a state will he inherit? What kind of problems will he inherit? I’d like to minimize that as much as I can.”
“I’m sure there’s going to be some contention between the two [parties],” Smith said. “I just hope they can all work for the good of the state.”