New Legislative Districts Bring Change for Upcoming Elections

Following state-wide redistricting in 2013, Lincoln County is facing big changes in its House districts while its two senate districts remain largely untouched.

Created by an Apportionment Commission in a process guided by the state constitution, the new districts garnered strong approval from the legislature and Gov. Paul LePage signed them into law last June. The new districts come into play for the 2014 primary and general elections.

None of the county’s five House districts remain unchanged after the process: on top of Washington, Chelsea, Pittston, Arrowsic, and Georgetown, nine new towns have been linked to Lincoln County’s 19 towns to make up a total of seven new House districts.

The new House of Representatives districts for Lincoln County towns will be effective for the upcoming primary and general elections later this year. Map is based on information from the Department of the Secretary of State and the Department of Transportation. (D. Lobkowicz graphic)

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Some of the changes were small – the current District 61, consisting of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport, Westport Island, Arrowsic, and Georgetown, dropped Arrowsic and Georgetown and picked up Edgecomb and roughly two-thirds of South Bristol to become District 89.

Other changes were more drastic – the current District 50, including Waldoboro, Bremen, Nobleboro, and part of Jefferson, has been split among three new districts.

All of Jefferson was linked up with Whitefield, Chelsea, and half of Nobleboro to form District 88; Bremen and the other half of Nobleboro were paired with Newcastle, Damariscotta, Bristol, Monhegan, and the remaining one third of South Bristol to become District 90; Waldoboro was linked to Washington, Friendship, and half of Union to become District 91.

In the Senate districts, most of the current District 20 remained intact as District 13 – Friendship was lopped off – and District 19, which includes Dresden and Sagadahoc County, just changed names to District 23.

Shifting towns around in the apportionment process has the potential to create new work for incumbents who plan to run again, both with establishing themselves with their new constituency and in creating run-offs between incumbents, as it did in the new District 91.

Depending on the outcome of the process, redistricting can also create certain advantages for one political party or another.

Stuart Smith, chair of the Lincoln County Republican Committee, and Lisa Miller, the chair of the Lincoln County Democratic Committee, both believe the Republicans got a better deal this time around.

“I think probably for Democrats it’s a bit more difficult,” Miller said. “Towns that have been, maybe, more Democratic-voting have been sort of switched around a bit.”

Miller pointed to the new District 89 as a challenge.

“I don’t think we’re having trouble fielding a candidate, but the candidate’s experience in these towns will be key,” Miller said

Smith shared similar feelings about District 89, saying that taking Arrowsic out of the district and adding in Edgecomb made the district lean Republican.

“I think the redistricting favored the Republicans more than the Democrats,” he said.

Smith said his committee will still have to allocate its assets in the same manner as before, but just in new areas.

“I don’t really see it as too much of a change for us,” Smith said. “I don’t see any additional challenges outside of running a campaign to begin with. That has its own challenges that won’t change because of a change in district.”

Both Miller and Smith agree that the nine new towns tied in with Lincoln County in the districts may have an impact on how committees in different counties will handle campaigns.

“We do have more people to be in touch with, to be monitoring to see if we can help; it does add another layer of complexity,” Miller said.

The Democrats currently have incumbents in four of the seven new House districts, and in both of the Senate districts. If all the House and Senate seats were open, it would be a lot more work, Miller said.

For the Republicans, Smith said the extra towns mean his committee might be helping out in one or two more campaigns.

“We’ll get out there, we’ll service those additional towns, but those are bleeding over into other counties and those counties will be helping out in those towns,” Smith said. “We’ve always bled over and helped each other out; I really don’t see too much of a change there.”

Neither Smith nor Miller are fully satisfied with the layout of the districts, however.

Smith feels Somerville and Hibbert’s Gore, which used to be paired up with Whitefield, Chelsea, Washington, and part of Jefferson, may be more of a challenge for the Republicans to reach since they have been paired with Windsor, Vassalboro, and part of Augusta.

Miller said since Somerville students have changed to go to Windsor’s schools in recent years, there is at least one connection there.

“If that relationship wasn’t there, I think we’d all be ballistic, because we don’t have much to do with Vassalboro or Augusta,” Miller said. “Districts sometimes get very far flung, and that’s the nature of the game.”

Miller was also concerned with the amount of split towns. South Bristol, Nobleboro, Union, Augusta, and Richmond are all split in the county’s new house districts.

“We bore a lot of splitting up in Lincoln County, and I think that’s a problem, that’s a shame,” she said. “It sure seems like Lincoln County bore way beyond its weight on that one.”

The voters in a divided town have to be provided different ballots so the election clerks have to stay on their game, and mailings to voters are also complicated, Miller said.

“You can’t just mail to a zip code, you have to mail to part of a zip code,” she said.

It also adds a new dimension to face-to-face interactions.

“When you go to community events and meet and greet people, you may be meeting lots of people in Nobleboro who aren’t in your district,” Miller said. “It just gets a little complicated for candidates.”

“It’s a lot cleaner when you have a whole town, let’s put it that way. It’s cleaner for the constituents and it’s cleaner for the candidates,” Miller said.

For the Republicans, Smith said the new groupings have created some inter-district competition for potential candidates.

In the new District 89, as an example, a potential candidate from South Bristol will not be running because he likes a Boothbay candidate who is planning to run, Smith said.

“Those are always challenges for either party, I think, is getting out there and finding candidates that they find desirable for the different seats,” Smith said.

“It’s just a different way of cutting the pie,” he said.

Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, I-Friendship, and Rep. Ellen Winchenbach, R-Waldoboro, have been lumped together into the new House District 91, which also includes Washington and part of Union. Both are planning to run again in the 2014 election.

Evangelos claims he is the only legislator in the state to lose roughly 7000 out of his 8000 constituents in the redistricting process.

“I was gerrymandered, there’s no question about it,” Evangelos said.

“There’s a certain wing of the Republican party – and I’m not talking about the moderates – there’s a wing of the Republican party that helped orchestrate this,” he said.

Evangelos’s assertion is in line with concerns he raised during his last campaign. Evangelos was the target of two mailings he called “vicious smears” in the 2012 election season that originated from political action committee Maine Conservative Political Action, a group Evangelos called “a Tea Party front.”

Michael Friedman, an unenrolled Bangor resident who chaired both the 2013 and 2011 Apportionment Commissions for Maine, said the apportionment process is a combination of parties working together while looking out for their own interests, but does not believe was Evangelos was singled out.

“They’re trying to do the best that they can, there’s always a little gamesmanship in the beginning on both sides,” Friedman said. “They try to figure out what is the best they’re going to do without having to go to court.”

Last year’s process was the first apportionment in 40 years that did not have to be taken before the Supreme Judicial Court, Friedman said. Once each side found what they could achieve would be adequate, there was a spirit of bipartisanship, he said.

“There’s always a bit of gerrymandering going on, that’s the nature of the beast, it’s been going on since we ever did the first one, like 200 year ago,” Friedman said.

“Do I think that the two parties drew the line [for Evangelos’ district] just because they just wanted to make it secure for the Ds or the Rs? I don’t think so. I think the deals were made long before that district came up,” he said.

Gerrymandered or not, both Evangelos and Winchenbach have ties that go back for years in the area they are running in, but both will also have to step up their game in their new towns.

“Going to Medomak Valley [High School] and working here, I do know quite a few people in my new district, so that’s good,” Winchenbach said.

Winchenbach said it would have been easier to run again in her current towns, where she is familiar with both the voter lists and the back roads.

“I’m going to have to start all over except for Waldoboro, but that’s okay,” she said.

Evangelos, too, is not a new face to the towns in his district. He served for 16 years as the business administrator for School Administrative District 40, now RSU 40, which includes all four towns in House District 91.

“I’m well known in those communities because of my track record in managing the schools,” he said.

Evangelos also plans to draw on his track record in the legislature, where he is the only legislator in the state not to caucus with either party.

“It has really helped my credibility in Augusta, people respect it a lot,” he said. “I vote my conscience 100 percent of the time.”

If independents were to caucus with a party, they could at least appeal to that party’s leadership to help protect their districts, Friedman said.

The apportionment process, as outlined in the state constitution, precludes unenrolled candidates from participating in the process unless selected by party-enrolled legislators as two members of the public on the commission, or the subsequent member of the public the first two choose.

“Even though they’re the largest voting block in Maine, independents are excluded from the process directly,” Friedman said.

To change the process, though, would require a constitutional amendment.

Miller had one suggestion.

“There may come a day when we have more of a citizen-based panel that does redistricting rather than a political panel and that might make a lot of sense, but I think that’s a long ways off,” Miller said.

Even a panel of citizens could bring in political bias, though, she said.

“This redistricting reached bipartisan agreement so it’s not like either side feels aggrieved, I don’t think, but certainly some towns feel aggrieved,” she said.

In Miller’s mind, there is no question independents have a problem in the apportionment process.

“Is that fair? Probably not, but it’s a party-based system right now and they aren’t in those parties and they’ve made that choice for, I think, probably very good reasons on their parts,” Miller said. “But, this is one of the downsides.”

More information about the apportionment process and maps of the official districts are available here.