Bowdoin College is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick,Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794,Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 35 majors and 40 minors,as well as several joint engineering programs with Columbia,Caltech,Dartmouth College,and the University of Maine.
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party,she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress. A Republican,she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech,"Declaration of Conscience".
Barbara Jean Lee is an American politician who has been serving as a U.S. representative from California since 1998. A member of the Democratic Party,Lee represents California's 12th congressional district,which is based in Oakland and covers most of the northern part of Alameda County. According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index,it is one of the nation's most Democratic districts,with a rating of D+40.
Since Maine became a U.S. State in 1820 it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives,beginning with the 17th United States Congress. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years,and members of the House to two-year terms. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years in general elections,with their re-election staggered. Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913,senators were elected by the Maine Legislature. Each state elects varying numbers of members of the House,depending on population,to two-year terms. Maine has sent two members to the House in each congressional delegation since the 1960 United States Census.
Chellie MariePingree is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Maine's 1st congressional district since 2009. Her district includes most of the southern part of the state,centered around the Portland area.
In U.S. politics,an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party or is denied the Democratic nomination in a caucus or primary election. Independent Democrat is not a political party. Several elected officials,including members of Congress,have identified as independent Democrats.
The Maine Republican Party is an affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Maine. It was founded in Strong,Maine,on August 7,1854. The party currently does not control the governor's office or either chamber of the Maine Legislature,nor either of Maine's two U.S. House. The only federal elected office that the party controls is one of Maine's two U.S. Senate seats,currently held by Susan Collins.
Jared Forrest Golden is an American politician and a Marine Corps veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Maine's 2nd congressional district since 2019.
Barbara Hernandez is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 50th district. The district,located in the Chicago metropolitan area,includes portions of Aurora,North Aurora,and Batavia.
Rachel Talbot Ross is an American politician and activist. A Democrat from Portland,Talbot has been the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives since December 2022. When she was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2016,Talbot Ross became the first Black woman to serve in the Maine Legislature. Talbot Ross represents District 40,consisting of the Parkside,Bayside,East Bayside,and Oakdale neighborhoods of Portland as well as the University of Southern Maine campus. She became Maine's first African-American House Speaker,and the highest-ranking African-American politician in Maine history,when she was elected speaker on December 7,2022.
The 2026 United States Senate elections are scheduled to be held on November 3,2026,with 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested in regular elections,the winners of which will serve six-year terms in the United States Congress from January 3,2027,to January 3,2033. Senators are divided into three groups,or classes,whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every two years. Class 2 senators were last elected in 2020,and will be up for election in this cycle.
Nicole Grohoski is an American cartographer,naturalist,and politician from Maine. She is a Democrat representing District 7 in the Maine Senate. Grohoski was born in Ellsworth,Maine and attended Ellsworth High School,the Maine School of Science and Mathematics,and Middlebury College,earning degrees in chemistry and environmental science. She served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives before running for the Maine Senate in a special election in June 2022. Grohoski was re-elected to Senate District 7 in November 2022 and is currently serving her second term.
Laurel Dawson Munsell Libby is an American anti-vaccine activist,Republican politician and interior designer from Maine. She is the representative for Maine House District 64,representing Minot and part of Auburn. She was elected to the Maine House in November 2020,2022 and 2024.
Lynne Williams is an American lawyer and politician from Maine. A Democrat from Bar Harbor,Williams represented District 14 in the Maine House of Representatives.
Barbara Phifer is a former United Methodist pastor who started her term as a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives,representing the state's 90th House district,in January 2021. She was the Democratic candidate in the 2024 Missouri Secretary of State election.
Margaret "Maggie" O'Neil is an American politician who is currently representing part of the city of Saco in the 129th district in the Maine House of Representatives. She is in her fourth term having previously served three terms as the representative for the 15th district.
Tracy Quint is an American politician from Hodgdon,Maine. She is currently serving in the Maine House of Representatives from the 8th district,having first been elected in 2020 from the Republican Party.
Erin R. Sheehan is an American politician,businesswoman,and former fashion designer serving as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from the 12th district. She assumed office on December 2,2020.
Lydia V. Crafts is an American politician and social worker serving as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from the 90th district. She assumed office on December 2,2020.
United States gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held on November 3,2026,in 36 states and three territories. The previous gubernatorial elections for this group of states took place in 2022,except in New Hampshire and Vermont,where governors serve two-year terms and elected their governors in 2024. Many of the states with elections in this cycle have incumbents who are officially term-limited.
