2020 Presidential Elections State-by-State Guide: Trump aspires to clinch Democratic-leaning Maine
State
MAINE
Primary dates
March 3, 2020 (Tuesday). Maine's nominating contest was changed from caucus to primary last year.
Type: Closed
Democratic delegates: 32 (24 pledged, eight super)
Republican delegates: 22
Governor
Janet Mills (Democratic)
Senators
Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (Independent)
Representatives: 2
Both Democratic: Chellie Pingree (1st district) and Jared Golden (2nd district)
Electoral college votes: 4
Hillary Clinton won three in 2016, Donald Trump won one
How Maine has voted in the past
As one of just two states that splits its electoral votes by congressional district, Maine will be a key presidential, Senate and House battleground. The other state, Nebraska, is less interesting since the entire state voted the same way in 2016.
Clinton won the popular vote in Maine by three points. She carried the 1st District by 15 points, while Trump carried the 2nd District by 11 points, which earned him one of the state’s four electoral votes.
The Trump campaign is banking on holding on to the 2nd District, but Democrats see it as a place they can target, especially with a high-profile Senate race next year.
Maine's strange electoral pattern
The Pine Tree State's voting behavior has been strange. The northeastern-most state voted against FDR all four times (only Vermont has done it other than Maine) and on several occasions has voted for a losing candidate in the presidential elections (since 1940s to the 2000s), which no other state has done.
The state has even cast the US' highest percentages for third-party presidential candidate Ross Perot, not once but twice (30 percent in 1992 and 14 percent in 1996).
Maine has been a reliably Republican state for most part of the 20th century. However, since Bill Clinton's win in 1992, the state has turned blue and the Democrats have won it seven straight times till 2016.
Hillary Clinton defeated Trump by 48-45 percent in 2016 but the latter still bagged one Electoral College vote as against the winner's three — causing something unprecedented. It is because Maine, like Nebraska, allocates one electoral vote to the winner of each of its two congressional districts.
Maine and 2020 presidential election
On Super Tuesday, Maine's voters will be more guided by policies when voting for their preferred candidates and they will include 'Medicare for All'.
The state's Bangor Daily News did a survey of the readers in January and it was seen that the Democratic supporters emphasized on issues such as climate change and health care on highest priority.
In terms of leading the fray, Bernie Sanders is the frontrunner with 25 percent of the votes while the rest have around 15 percent. In 2016, Sanders registered an emphatic win over Hillary by around 29 points in the Maine caucuses.
In the Republican Party, the urgency to win Maine will be strong though it might not be an eventuality. Trump had lost Maine in the 2016 primary by over 13 percent to Ted Cruz, though this time he has negligible opposition in the primary phase.
He could repeat the 2016 results of getting one delegate by winning the white and least college-educated rural district in Maine.