New Political Power Structure in Augusta

When Gov. Paul LePage begins his second four-year term in
January he will face a significantly different legislature than during his
first four years in office.

Democrats will still hold a majority of seats in the House
(79-68-4) but their margin has narrowed and ability to push through legislation
to the Governor’s Desk will be hampered by the new 20-15 Republican majority in
the Senate (which may increase to 21-14 after settlement of a disputed race).

In his first two years Gov. LePage had a Republican
legislature to work with.  In his second
two years he had a Democrat legislature to work against.  In his third two years he will have a divided
legislature to work through; raw political power will give way to political
bargaining in order for controversial proposals to become law.   Legislative leadership will have been
remapped for the third time as well.

Senate leadership:

·        
Michael Thibodeau (Winterport), President of the
Senate

·        
Garrett Mason (Lisbon Falls), Majority Leader

·        
André Cushing (Hampden), Assistant Majority
Leader

·        
Justin Alfond (Portland), Minority Leader

·        
Dawn Hill (Cape Neddick), Assistant Minority
Leader

House leadership:

·        
Mark Eves (North Berwick), Speaker of the House

·        
Jeff McCabe (Skowhegan), Majority Leader

·        
Sara Gideon (Freeport), Assistant Majority
Leader

·        
Ken Fredette (Newport), Minority Leader

·        
Ellie Espling (New Gloucester), Assistant
Minority Leader

Apart from legislators in new leadership positions, Senate
co-chairs of legislative committees will switch from Democrats to
Republicans.  Also, the ratio of House Ds
and Rs on committees will narrow.

There will be 15 new faces in the Senate and 65 in the House
– a 43% turnover of the combined 35 Senate and 151 House seats.  Most of the “new” Senators and a handful of
“new” Representatives have previously served in the legislature.

Announcement of committee assignments is not expected until
early January.  A list of titles of
proposed legislation also is not expected until after mid-January.

Members of the 127^th Legislature convene on
December 3.