Since 2022, Waldo County District 37 (Winterport, Part of Frankfort, Prospect, Stockton Springs, Searsport), District 38 (Unity, Thorndike, Knox, Jackson, Monroe, Brooks, Waldo, and Swanville), and District 62 (China, Windsor, Hibbits Gore, Somerville, and Palermo) have been held by representatives taking extreme positions on all sorts of state legislation. Representatives Reagan Paul, Benjamin Hymes, and Katrina Smith, respectively, are all MAGA Republicans. 

Here is how they voted, on your behalf, in 2023.  

Every year the Maine People’s Alliance compiles the voting records of our representatives in the Maine Legislature to show the people of Maine how their representatives are voting on their constituencies’ behalf.  The MPA has successfully organized to raise the minimum wage and to create a paid family and medical leave program that works for all Maine workers; they have held corporate polluters accountable; and they have stood up for the rights of people with low incomes, immigrants, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.  

First, Rep. Paul (District 37), received a 0% score, indicating that she did not vote in favor of a single bill that MPA selected as, “the most critical issues that defined each legislative session and made the biggest impact on people’s lives.” Instead, she tried to pass a voter ID bill designed to undermine trust in elections and suppress the vote; fortunately, it was defeated.  Rep Paul’s other major effort on your behalf was to lobby for nuclear power plants instead of wind and solar, as if nuclear power and its necessary radioactive fuel and waste are “clean energy.”  

Rep. Hymes (District 38) received a score of 8% from MPA because he did vote in favor of a single bill, LD 2004, Restoring Wabanaki Access to Beneficial Federal Laws.

Rep. Smith (District 62) was awarded a 0% score by MPA, as she, like Rep. Paul, did not vote in favor of a single MPA-selected bill.  She was also absent during two votes on LD 258, The Supplemental Budget (seems pretty important), and the aforementioned LD 2004.

Here are some of the bills Reps. Paul, Hymes, and Smith voted against:

LD 391 - Part of Chapter 3: Maine Clean Elections Act
LD 1082 - An Act to Advance the Maine Retirement Savings Program
LD 1478 - To Help Fund Family Planning Services
LD 669 - An Act to Create the Public Art Fund
LD1506 - Resolve Directing the Department of Health and Human Services  to Study the Scarcity of Licensed Clinical Behavioral Health Professionals
LD 2 - An Act to Address Chronic Homelessness by Creating the Housing First Fund
 

Reps. Paul and Hymes also voted against the following:

LD 564 - Funding for Pine Tree Legal and Legal Services for the Elderly
LD 470 - Lead Abatement Program
LD 199 - An Act to Improve the Health of Maine Residents by Removing Exclusions to the MaineCare Program
LD 1151 - An Act Concerning the Authority for Pharmacists to Administer Vaccines
LD 60 - An Act to Require 72-Hour Waiting Period After the Sale of a Firearm
LD 1512 - An Act to Require Restitution For A Child Whose Parent Is Killed by a Drunk Driver
LD 325 - An Act to Improve Consideration of Electricity Rate Increases
LD 1588 - An Act to Provide Public Sector Labor Unions Reasonable Access to Information Regarding Employees
LD 512 - An Act to Promote Student Enrollment and Degree Completion in the UMaine System by Providing Tuition Waivers to Eligible Students
LD 1847 - An Act to Modify the Visual Impact Standards for Offshore Wind Port Development
LD 1756 - An Act to Protect Employee Freedom of Speech
LD 1101 - An Act to Support Lower Home Energy Costs by Establishing a Home Energy Scoring System
LD 1340 - An Act to Prohibit the Sale or Possession of Rapid-fire Modification Devices (bump stocks)
LD 787 - An Act to Create the New Maine Resident Service Coordination Program in the Dept. of Economic & Community Development
LD 1286 - An Act to Resolve to Establish the Blue Economy Task Force to support Maine's Emergence as a Center for Blue Economy Innovation and Opportunity in the 21st Century
LD 1102 An Act to Authorize a Recall Election for a School Board Member

Reps. Paul, Hymes, and Smith care more about pursuing a national MAGA agenda. These three representatives are not representing our interests and values here in Maine.
 
André Blanchard lives in Liberty