The Election is Over: What Happens Now?
From all of us at the Resurgam Group, we’d like to first congratulate all of Maine's newly elected and re-elected leaders at the national, statewide, and local levels! We look forward to working with them soon to improve the lives of Mainers. Although Election Day may be behind us now, there are still several important events to pay attention to as our state legislature prepares to embark on its new session.
Leadership races
Majority and minority leadership in both chambers of the legislature are determined by the members of their respective caucuses. On November 10, Senate Republicans, who will be in the minority in the upcoming session, selected Sen. Trey Stewart (Presque Isle) and Sen. Lisa Keim (Oxford) as Minority Leader and Assistant Minority Leader respectively. Across the aisle, Senate Democrats re-elected Sen. Troy Jackson (Allagash) as Senate President, Sen. Eloise Vitelli (Arrowsic) as Majority Leader, and Sen. Mattie Daughtry (Brunswick) as Assistant Majority Leader.
On November 14, Maine’s House Republicans, who are also in the minority, chose Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (Winter Harbor) to serve as Minority Leader and Rep. Amy Arata (New Gloucester) to serve as Assistant Minority Leader. Majority leadership and Speaker roles were determined by the House democratic caucus on November 17. Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (Portland) was nominated unanimously to become Speaker and will be the first Black woman to serve in this role in Maine history. House Democrats also chose Rep. Mo Terry (Gorham) to serve as Majority Leader and Rep. Kristen Cloutier (Lewiston) as Assistant Majority Leader, rounding out an all-female majority leadership team.
Swearing-in and cloture
Several weeks from now, following the election of majority and minority leadership, members-elect will formally be sworn into office. This will occur on Wednesday, December 7, the third day of the pre-legislative conference. Shortly thereafter, the first legislative session will begin. The first session will be particularly important to watch, as members will have the freedom to submit a significantly wider variety of bills than during the second session.
During the first regular session of the Legislature, there are no formal limitations on the type or number of bills that may be submitted prior to cloture. Cloture is the deadline for submitting requests for legislation. In contrast, bills introduced in the second regular session of the Legislature are limited by the State Constitution to budgetary matters, the Governor’s legislation, legislation of an emergency nature approved by the Legislative Council, legislation submitted pursuant to statute, legislation submitted pursuant to authorized studies, and legislation submitted by direct initiative petition of the electors.
