Maine Politician Wants Part of Maine to Join New Hampshire

Due to its small population, Maine only has two congressional districts. Unlike heavily populated states like New York, which has 26, Maine is on the much smaller side population-wise.

When it comes to federal elections, Maine is one of only two states in the entire country that actually split its delegates, with the 2nd district often leaning conservative and the 1st district frequently leaning liberal.

The only other state in the country to do that is Nebraska.

According to the Kennebec Journal, Maine Senator Eric Brakey (R) recently suggested that Maine's 2nd district secede from the state and join New Hampshire, a much more conservative state than Maine.

Admittedly, I am kind of a political geek both with state and federal happenings, so when I saw this story put out by the KJ I knew I needed to learn a little bit more about this Maine senator's comments.

In this graphic below from Maine.gov, you can see that Maine's 2nd congressional district encompasses the majority of Maine's land mass. However, it only represents about half of the overall population. Pretty wild, right?

According to the KJ, Brakey suggested the secession of the 2nd district to New Hampshire so that Maine's rural residents, and typically more conservative-leaning, wouldn't be at the 'whim' of the 1st district's typically more liberal agenda.

However, those that have chimed in on the conversation say that Brakey's comments shouldn't be taken too seriously as the likelihood of something like that actually happening, at least anytime soon, are slim to none.

Brakey said in part about his recent comments,

“I wonder how long until a ‘Greater New Hampshire Movement’ is a regular feature of our own discourse in Maine. To the members who believe the voting majorities of the 2nd District will have their teeth kicked in and their voices silenced again and again only to grin and bear it, I wonder if they know what democracy actually looks like. I wonder how long this disrespect and disenfranchisement will be endured.”

What do you think?