Youth movement emerges in primaries

Adam Goode surprised a lot of people by winning the House District 15 Democratic primary on Tuesday. It wasn’t simply that he defeated opponent Gerry Palmer, a well-known name in Bangor Democratic politics, that caused political observers to sit up and take notice. It was the wide margin of his victory that opened eyes.

Goode, a 24-year-old recent University of Maine graduate, was less surprised than most.

“I knew what I was up against,” he said Wednesday when asked about Palmer, 60, a longtime Bangor city councilor. “But it was clear to me that people respond better to personal contact than big signs or mailers or recognizable names. People voted for me because I worked hard for their support.”

He won with a staggering 69 percent of the vote, while Palmer received 19 percent and Roberto Zavaleta got 12 percent. Goode conceded that many young voters were probably on his side but said he didn’t think his age was the deciding factor in his race.

“Two young people ran for [Bangor] City Council recently and didn’t come close to winning,” he pointed out. “Mostly, people want someone who’s going to work hard for them.”

Among the 24 contested primary contests in the Maine House and Senate on Tuesday, a mild youth movement emerged, especially among state Democrats which accounted for 16 of those primaries.

In the House District 32 race to represent the towns on Mount Desert Island, Elspeth “Elsie” Flemings, a 25-year-old College of the Atlantic graduate, defeated Gary Friedmann, 52, a prominent MDI businessman, by a 61-39 ratio.

“What I heard in my campaigning was that people were excited not just about my youth but my potential,” Flemings said Wednesday. “People are always looking for new voices.”

In the House District 120 race in Portland, 31-year-old Diane Russell triumphed 63-37 over Edward Democracy, 45, who claimed 25 years of experience as a community organizer. In House District 85 out of Skowhegan, Jeffrey McCabe, 30, won with 88 percent of the vote, although his opponent, Mitchell Snowman, was even younger, 21.

It wasn’t just House races either. In a Senate race out of Portland, 33-year-old Justin Alfond overtook two challengers, including Anne Rand, 61, a former state senator and current representative for House District 120.

Hannah Pingree, 31, D-North Haven, the House Majority Leader who knows plenty about being a young candidate, said she’s not surprised by the primary success of young candidates.

“I think there is a good crop of young people excited to make a difference,” she said. “I think part of it is [Sens. Barack] Obama and Hillary [Clinton] both got a lot of young people involved, but also the last eight years of [President George W.] Bush has woken up a whole generation.”

Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, said he was definitely surprised by some results Tuesday, the House District 32 results in particular.

“I hadn’t had coffee yet, so I had to check the numbers again to make sure I saw them right,” he joked. “More than anything, I think some of these races point to the uncertain nature of this election cycle. I think, at least on a national scale, this year has a chance to be one of the most redefining elections in the last generation and that’s trickling down to the state level.”

Whether the youth movement continues into the general election in November is up for debate. Voter turnout for Tuesday’s primary wasn’t exactly high. Don Cookson, spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, predicted turnout at about 14 percent statewide, but said it was probably as high as 25 percent in some areas that had contested House or Senate races.

Still, Cookson agreed that some results were surprising.

“I guess the conventional wisdom is that name recognition and experience is important, but you might have to question that wisdom today,” Cookson said.

Pingree said, from her experience, name recognition and length of service matters less in local races than federal ones. When she first started in the House six years ago, Pingree said there were two other representatives who were under the age of 30.

“Now, we’ve had to change it to the under-35 group,” she joked. “But, after the [November] election, we could have even more young people, certainly more than we’ve ever had.”

Flemings, who said she’s looking forward to her general election campaign, admitted it’s a comfort to know that Pingree helped pave the way not just for young candidates, but young female candidates.

“The precedent has been set,” she said.

erussell@bangordailynews.net

664-0524