Maine 2026 Plan

Balance of Power: Notes

• Maine and Nebraska are the only states that allocate electoral college votes by congressional district. ME-02 delivered its individual electoral college vote to Trump in 2020 and 2024, and has voted Republican at the presidential level in each of the last three presidential elections.
• With Congressman Jared Golden not seeking re-election, ME-02 is an open congressional seat for the first time since 2018. 

Organizing Ecosystem

Since MVP began investing in Maine in 2019, the organizing ecosystem has expanded significantly — thanks in large part to MVP’s investments. Once dominated by a single large, statewide organization, the landscape now features a network of groups working in rural communities, urban centers, immigrant neighborhoods, and across the labor movement.

These groups have built and refined voter engagement programs across multiple election cycles, combining scaled member mobilization with deep base building in communities that are routinely overlooked. In 2026, they are positioned to run state-wide coordinated electoral organizing and voter mobilization programs, with particular depth in ME-02.

Strategy #1

Leverage existing power: Galvanize engaged grassroots members to maximize Democratic turnout statewide. 

Maine People’s Alliance

Maine's progressive organizing ecosystem is anchored by MVP partner Maine People's Alliance (MPA). MPA has 32,000 dues-paying members — one of the largest per-capita membership bases of any statewide organization in the country. With chapters across the state, MPA is well-positioned to turn out low-propensity Democratic-leaning voters en masse in the U.S. Senate and House races. 

MPA has been knocking on doors since April, ahead of Maine’s June 9 primary elections, and will now scale their field program to maximize turnout this November. 

MPA will also leverage its multi-tiered membership program by providing ongoing training and leadership development opportunities, not only to mobilize its members to vote, but also to empower them to organize in their own communities. 

Photo: Maine People's Alliance at the Maine State House.

Strategy #2

Mobilize key voters: Organize rural, working-class, predominantly white communities. 

Maine is more than 93% white, with a substantial rural and working-class population. As The Maine Beacon points out, it is one of the only states with this demographic profile that Democrats have historically held power. To maintain and expand Democratic power in the state, we must engage and mobilize white, rural, working-class voters at scale across the state, with an emphasis on ME-02. 

Food AND Medicine 

Food AND Medicine (FAM) has spent more than 25 years building ties in eastern Maine's working-class communities. With a strong regional reputation and a voter engagement program developed over multiple election cycles, FAM is positioned to anchor the federal field program in eastern Maine, drawing on relationships built long before any given election season.

FAM runs community-based programs that provide services to Mainers, like food access, gardening skills, and access to transportation, and connects those services to civic engagement and electoral organizing. With deep roots in communities across eastern Maine, FAM has built the trust and widespread name recognition needed to energize and mobilize rural, working-class voters.  

Photo: Food AND Medicine organizers.

Maine Labor Climate Council 

Maine Labor Climate Council (MLLC) is a leader of economic and environmental organizing in Maine and is bringing that lens to electoral organizing this year to do something different and necessary: organize residents of mobile home parks. 

These residents are largely working-class, rural Mainers whom MLCC is engaging around shared economic grievances, including predatory landlords and longstanding housing insecurity. Many of these voters have felt abandoned by both parties and have been susceptible to right-wing messaging.

These communities are persuadable when engaged by local trusted messengers, and MLCC's peer-to-peer model builds the trust and political agency to do just that. In a close ME-02 race, this constituency could be the margin of victory. MLCC’s organizing has become so impressive that Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate, is now taking cues from them. 

Photo: Maine Labor Climate Council legislative advocacy event.

Strategy #3

Target tipping-point communities: Turn out voters of color, including immigrants, and young voters in support of Democrats. 

Community Action Alliance 

January's federal ICE enforcement surge galvanized Maine's immigrant community — and our partners are turning that energy into durable federal voter engagement. 

Community Action Alliance (CAA), based in Lewiston/Auburn, organizes with Black and African immigrant youth, developing leaders and building toward a voter mobilization program in a city that sits within ME-02 and is central to the district's electoral math. In a close federal race, CAA's organizing with these communities could provide the margin of victory. 

Photo: Community Action Alliance getting out the vote.

Maine Youth Power 

Maine Youth Power organizes rural young people — a demographic systematically underregistered and underengaged in Maine politics. MYP's rural youth organizing spans both congressional districts, but with a greater presence in ME-02, and a focus on reaching young voters in communities where no other progressive organization is running a sustained field program. 

In 2026, MYP will register, educate, and mobilize young voters for the U.S. Senate and ME-02 races through door knocking, phone banking, coalition events, candidate forums, and more. 

Photo: Maine Youth Power