The Springboard To The Blaine House

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Where were Maine’s governors before they were elected?

Had they won statewide office before?

Were they in Congress?

How often did they come directly from the Maine legislature?

How many outsiders with no political experience do we have?

Maine has an eclectic history of who it elects to the Blaine House.  We have seen congressmen, outsiders and state legislators get elected.  Let’s examine where the Governors came from since 1900:

  • John Baldacci – United States Congressman
  • Angus King – Outsider, businessman and television host
  • John McKernan – United States Congressman
  • Joe Brennan – Attorney General of Maine
  • Jim Longley – Head of the Maine Management and Cost Survey Commission / Outsider
  • Kenneth Curtis – Secretary of State of Maine
  • John Reed (succeeded outgoing governor) – President of the Maine Senate
  • Clinton Clausen – Mayor of a Maine City (Waterville)
  • Robert Haskell (succeeded outgoing governor) – President of the Maine Senate
  • Ed Muskie – State Representative
  • Burton Cross – President of the Maine Senate
  • Nathanial Haskell (succeeded outgoing governor) – President of the Maine Senate
  • Burton Cross – President of the Maine Senate
  • Frederick Payne – Mayor of a Maine City (Augusta)
  • Horace Hildreth – President of the Maine Senate
  • Sumner Sewall – President of the Maine Senate
  • Lewis Barrows – Secretary of State of Maine
  • Louis J. Brann – Mayor of a Maine City (Lewiston) and Chairman of the Maine Democratic Party
  • William Tudor Gardiner – State Representative
  • Owen Brewster – State Senator
  • Percival Proctor Baxter – President of the Maine Senate
  • Frederic Hale Parkhurst – Chairman of the Maine Republican Party
  • Carl E. Milliken – President of the Maine Senate
  • Oakley C. Curtis – Mayor of a Maine City (Portland)
  • William T. Haines – Member of the Governor’s Executive Council, State Senator
  • Frederick W. Plaisted – Mayor of a Maine City (Augusta)
  • Bert M. Fernald – State Senator
  • William T. Cobb - Outsider, Lawyer
  • John Fremont Hill – Member of the Governor’s Executive Council

So, for those of you scoring at home:

  • Presidents of the Maine Senate – 9
  • Mayors of Maine Cities – 5
  • Congressmen – 2
  • State Senators (not including Presidents) – 2
  • State Representatives – 2
  • Secretaries of State – 2
  • Members of the Governor’s Executive Council – 2
  • Outsiders – 2
  • Chairman of Political Parties – 1
  • Commissioners – 1
  • Attorneys General – 1

So, if you are the President of the Maine Senate or a Mayor of a major Maine city, you have a pretty good track record of getting elected to the Blaine House.  It should be noted that recent history has favored Congressmen, outsiders and members of the Maine Government (Attorney General or Secretary of State).  We haven’t had a Maine Senate President rise to the office of Governor for a half century.

Right now in the race, this is how the candidates break down in terms of the most recent experience they hold – their potential “springboard”, if you will:

Democrats

  • Steve Rowe – Attorney General of Maine
  • Libby Mitchell – President of the Maine Senate
  • Pat McGowan – Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation
  • Rosa Scarcelli – Outsider, businesswoman

Republicans

  • Les Otten – Outsider, businessman
  • Steve Abbott – Chief of Staff for a United States Senator
  • Peter Mills – State Senator
  • Bruce Poliquin – Outsider, businessman
  • Matt Jacobson – Outsider, businessman
  • Paul LePage – Mayor of a Maine city
  • Bill Beardsley – College President

Maine voters do not have much of a history of electing commissioners or Attorneys General.  It has no history electing college presidents or staffers for Federal officers.  Even the rich history it does have in electing Senate Presidents and Mayors is quite far in its past, when the political culture of the state was quite different.

All of which is to say that the particular springboard that our next Governor will have launched him or herself from will not be a matter of a historical trend.  Still, it is always fun to look at the past and where Maine’s leaders have come from.