06 Nov 2024 Taking a moment
Friends,
We did not wake today to the new dawn we had hoped for or wanted for our country. If you’re anything like me, you are holding many different emotions in your head and heart: shock, fear, anger, sadness, worry.
I ask that you find space for one other feeling. Pride.
Because of the hard work by our amazing candidates and all of you, Lincoln County Dems did our job. Cameron Reny, Lydia Crafts and Holly Stover are all returning to the Maine Legislature. They will be joined by Wayne Farrin, who flipped House District 47, and Denise Tepler, who won Senate District 24. Evan Goodkowsky and David Levesque have been elected Lincoln County Commissioners for Districts 1 and 3, respectively, and William Avantaggio has been re-elected Judge of Probate. Chellie Pingree is headed back to Congress.
And Kamala Harris and Tim Walz carried Lincoln County by 2,638 votes, a wider margin than Biden had when he won here in 2020.
Jennifer Stone, Judy Tunkle and Pam Swift ran strong campaigns, talking to thousands of voters. They left nothing on the table. None of us did.
There will be talk in the coming days, weeks and months about the need to find hope and keep doing our work. It’s okay if you’re not up to that today. You don’t have to be. If I’ve learned anything about the Lincoln County Dems it’s that we are in it for the long haul. We aren’t going anywhere. Take a break. Find your peace. When you’re ready to get back to work, we will be here.
I want to take a moment to thank all of our candidates and their teams, our campaign manager Stephen Wicks, the LCDC Campaign Team, and our more than 200 volunteers who worked on this campaign. I want to thank the Maine Dems coordinated campaign’s Tessa Schneider and Abigayle Eames and Brian Colleran and Sylvia de Boer with the Maine House and Senate campaign committees. Because of their work, and yours, we’ve held our majority in the state Senate and House.
I’m reminded of something that Heather Cox Richardson said yesterday at our campaign office: “If we all do the next right thing, we’ll be OK.”
The next right thing will look different for each of us. Sometimes it will be something large, like standing with marginalized individuals against discrimination and hate. Or it could be small. Like an email to friends filled with gratitude for their hard work.
Ultimately, the right thing may just be to put one foot in front of the other, moving forward, toward justice, equality, equity, and a healthier world for all of us. Together. That’s how we will find our way. Today, tomorrow and all the days ahead.
Onward.
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Kelli Whitlock Burton (she/her)
Chair, Lincoln County Democratic Committee
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