Andy O'Brien writes in The Intercept about the Maxmin & Woodward book, Dirt Road Revival, which has been getting lots of press. The whole piece is worth a read, as it questions some of the assertions the authors make about just how distinctive and remarkable Maxmin's electoral success was. Here are a few excerpts:
SEN. MAXMIN HAS been a great legislator, especially with her work bringing labor and environmental groups together to pass landmark Green New Deal legislation to create good union jobs in the renewable energy sector. She is also an excellent organizer and deserves a lot of praise for running a strong grassroots effort where she made 80,000 voter contact attempts over the course of the campaign. Making thousands of outreach calls to voters to offer aid and support at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic was an excellent idea. Knocking on doors and writing personalized, handwritten “clincher” postcards to every person she met on the campaign trail is a great strategy and one used by Maine Democrats for many years.
The fact that she ran her own campaign, designing her own literature and hand-painted signs, is proof of her commitment and of the freedom Maine Democrats give candidates to run their own campaigns. Unfortunately for many people who supported her, Maxmin has decided not to run again for her Senate seat and is instead focusing on going to law school, promoting her book, and creating a new nonprofit to help Democrats learn how to better campaign in rural districts.
O'Brien also provides some critical context on Maine's political structures.
THERE ARE ALSO a lot of reasons why Maxmin’s strategy can’t translate easily to the rest of the country, which Maxmin and Woodward acknowledge in their op-ed. Just how unique Maine is may need a little emphasis for a national audience: Maine has a very large legislature for the size of its population of 1.36 million. With 151 House seats and 35 Senate seats, Maine House districts represent about 9,000 people and Senate districts have roughly 39,000 people. This structure allows for more face-to-face interactions and makes legislators much more accessible. Many lawmakers even put their cellphone numbers on their literature and websites.
For candidates in other states, Maxmin’s method would be incredibly difficult if not impossible to replicate. For instance, in West Virginia, a small state with similar demographics, state senators represent 54,500 residents on average. Maine also has a “Clean Elections” public financing system that allows candidates like Maxmin to focus less on fundraising and more on campaigning.
Maine also has a part-time citizen legislature where lawmakers earn about $25,000 salary for a two-year term, plus health care and very modest per diems for gas, food, and lodging. Incumbents struggle to balance campaigning with family responsibilities and earning enough income to survive. Half of Maine’s state legislators are self-employed or run a business, which allows for more flexibility than if they had to work a 9-to-5 job. Maine is the nation’s oldest state by median age, and more than a quarter of our lawmakers are retired because they have the time to devote to the job. When I ran for state representative, I was able to spend so much time campaigning because I was also in my 20s and had no responsibilities. I was able to cobble together enough income to survive on student loans and landscaping jobs and lived with my parents for my first campaign.
Maxmin didn’t have to hold a full-time job; she comes from a wealthy background and, according to her mandatory income disclosure reports, receives income from investments.
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