Maine Democrats have switched from defense to offense | Opinion

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Devon Murphy-Anderson is the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. She is from Harpswell and lives in Portland.

Most people think elections are won or lost on Election Day. But any good operative knows elections are often decided long before the first Tuesday in November.

Two years ago, I sat in a coffee shop in Bath reviewing polling about a referendum Republicans had qualified for Maine’s 2025 ballot. As I read about the attacks on absentee voting, I saw it for what it was: Republicans were using voter suppression tactics from other states in an attempt to give Sen. Susan Collins a more favorable electorate in 2026, in a year when fewer voters would be paying attention.

That’s when I decided to apply to be executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. If Republicans were campaigning for November 2026 two years early, Democrats needed to get in the fight.

When Republicans realized they were on track to lose, they regrouped by using dark money from an out-of-state billionaire to collect signatures for a referendum in 2026 targeting LGBTQ youth in our state. Their strategy was clear: create a wedge issue to mobilize their base and help Collins stay in office.

Once again, Maine Democrats and nonprofit groups united to meet them on the field. Turns out, the fraud Republicans are always yelling about was happening in their own operation. We challenged their signatures, uncovered widespread fraud and got their referendum disqualified.

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We ended up saving absentee voting in Maine by defeating that referendum by nearly 30 points.

I’m proud of the Mainers we defended and the voting rights we protected. But now, as thousands of Mainers cast ballots every day, what I’m most proud of is that these wins have allowed us to go on offense.

Maine Democrats have built an organizing operation reaching all 16 counties. We’ve opened 25 field offices, hired dozens of organizers and brought thousands of volunteers into the effort to elect Democrats up and down the ballot.

And we’re doing this on a compressed timeline with our full ticket. In just 12 weeks, our coordinated campaign has surpassed 1 million voter contact attempts, including more than 230,000 door attempts and 790,000 calls.

I share those numbers because people should understand how much work is happening across Maine. But they don’t tell the whole story. Behind every number is someone giving their time to something they believe in.

Some are longtime volunteers. Others are getting involved for the first time. They’re students, retirees, parents and people who have already worked a full day but still find time to make calls or knock on doors.

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Spending time with our organizers and volunteers has been one of the best parts of my job. Last week, I spent five hours with a volunteer named Molly. Together, we packed supplies, scripts, turf lists, literature, signs and water for more than 55 canvass launch locations.

While labeling boxes and getting too many papercuts, Molly and I talked about music, our community, our fears for our country and our hope for this election.

Her commitment to fostering that hope through volunteering is something I’ve seen across Maine. People are showing up because they’re concerned about their communities and want to do something about it.

With just over a week until Election Day, there’s still work ahead. Nothing is guaranteed, and we’re not taking a single vote for granted. Many legislative races will be decided by handfuls of votes. And our race to elect Troy Jackson and finally retire Collins remains a toss-up.

If you’ve been waiting for a moment to get involved, this is it. Sign up to knock on doors, make calls or volunteer in your community.

The work we’ve done has brought us this far. Now it’s time to bring it home.

Whatever happens Nov. 3, thousands of Mainers have already shown what we can accomplish when we come together. That’s something worth being proud of.

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Tagged: columns, election 2026