In Maine House of Representatives, term limits impact Democrats and Republicans equally

August 11, 2010

John Piotti, who is ineligible to run for Maine House of Representatives District 45 because of term limits. Damon has held the seat since 2002.

By Caleb Palmer

Maine was one of the first states whose voters enacted state legislative term limits. In 2010, the impact of the term limits that Maine voters approved when they enacted Question 1 in 1993 on November 2, 1993 will be felt equally by Democrats and Republicans.

Democratic state legislators Anne Perry, Edward Finch, Hannah Pingree, Herbert Adams, John Piotti, Leila Percy, Nancy Smith, Stephen Beaudette, Thomas Watson, and Walter Wheeler, Sr. are ineligible to run for re-election to the Maine legislature in 2010, as are Republicans Christian Greeley, H. Sawin Millett, Jr., Henry Joy, Joshua Tardy, Kenneth Fletcher, Richard Sykes, Robert Nutting, Sarah Lewin, Susan Austin, Thomas Saviello, and William Browne and one Independent James Campbell, Sr..

Democrats hold a 39-seat advantage over Republicans going into the November 2 election, and their prospects of holding onto their House of Representatives majority are enhanced by the fact that they are both losing ten senators to term limits.

Louis Jacobson, a staff writer for PolitiFact, did an early-season analysis of which state legislatures may change majority party control as the result of the November elections. He rates the Maine House of Representatives as highly likely to remain in Democrat control because of their seat advantage.

See also

• Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2010#Maine
• Maine House of Representatives elections, 2010
• State house elections, 2010
• State legislatures with term limits