In this close gubernatorial race, I am disheartened to see that none of the candidates appears to be making strong appeals to young voters. In Maine, a state with a population that trends older, wooing younger supporters can slip to a secondary priority.
Millennials are young, and young voters are not the most reliable bloc. We have proven, though, that we can provide crucial support when we are engaged. In a race that could easily come down to a photo finish, the youth vote could be what helps to push one of the candidates to victory.
Who will quell our anxieties about living and working in Maine? How does each plan to alleviate the student debt burden, make it easier to start businesses here and fix our broken transportation system? Who will stand up for civil liberties? These issues have come up in passing, but I have yet to see any of the candidates make a resonant or compelling push for the collective of issues facing younger voters.
Outside of writing a book, independent Eliot Cutler’s greatest achievement since the last time he ran for office was arguably the formation of OneMaine. This booster club for independents — though cynically a nascent fan club for Cutler himself — found some resonance with young people. But those efforts wound down in early 2013, around the same time Cutler began his long public flirtation with jumping into the race. Since then, Cutler’s appeal to young voters has struck me as anemic compared with the 2010 election.
The Maine Republican Party maintains Gen207, a “youth outreach effort” that was announced last November. It showed some promise with the initial inclusion of Ashley Ryan, a libertarian activist in her early 20s with values typical of Republican millennials.
But since the launch of Gen207, the group’s website has not been updated. The group’s social media channels appear to be inconsistently maintained clearinghouses for messages from a few activists and distribution channels for content from the state and national parties. What exists of organizational outreach appears as tone deaf to “big tent” expansion as the party at large has proven to be.
A recent picture from the Gen207 Twitter account shows a “Youth for LePage” event where the governor is pictured at a podium flanked by what is presumably the young GOP “base” — 15 young men and no women. Meanwhile, the net actions of GOP — investing in pro-Cutler literature as a means of further splitting the opposition vote and advocacy for voter ID requirements, an effort proven to disenfranchise younger voters — hints that the party’s priorities lie elsewhere.
Particularly perplexing is the failure of Democrat U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud to reach out to young voters and engage in a meaningful way. While millennials are increasingly identifying as independents, they are — at least for now — still more likely to vote for Democratic candidates. Despite maintaining this upper hand, the campaign websites prioritizes issues like fraud and American manufacturing. The websites also address women and veterans, but there is no appeal to or plan for young people in this state.
Cutler’s website, which boasts the most on issues and these target demographics, overlooks the young voter contingent as well. As for the Democrats, their youth arm appears even more skeletal, though refreshingly more diverse, than the Republicans’ own. Of the three candidates, young people would tend, theoretically, to fall most in line with Michaud’s ideals, though his campaign — like the others this election season — has not made a compelling case to them.
The absence of a key organizing mechanism for young voters in Maine this year could partially explain the lack of attention paid to young voters. The disintegration of the League of Young Voters in 2013 removed a mechanism that helped to shape and facilitate the discussion among young people and candidates. The absence of this group in this election cycle makes it obvious that, without being held directly accountable, candidates feel off the hook and feel no need for engaging and addressing the collective needs of young people.
It is common to complain about youth apathy, particularly when it comes to civic engagement, but this season feels like one we have been written out of entirely.
We have the most on the line: Debts will sit with us longer than they will with our parents, and we need an environment in which we can live comfortably and thrive. We need an incentive to stay in Maine and do business in here, and the state needs that, too.
Unfortunately, we have proven an afterthought at best and a hastily engaged accessory at worst. That efforts to speak meaningfully to and engage younger voters fell so short should be shameful on its own, but it will be especially embarrassing to the runner-up confronted with looking back and wondering where he fell short.
Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was a teenager and is a former candidate for the Legislature. He’s an owner-partner of a Portland-based content production company and lives with his family, dogs and garden in Cornish.