Knox County Democratic Committee

Monthly Newsletter

January 1, 2025 (No. 32)

In This Issue

• Annual Membership Survey

• KCDC Elections to be Held January 14, 2025

• Final November 2024 Election Results for Maine Released

• Legislative Update

• January 14, 2025 KCDC Business Meeting

• Obituary: Edward Doudera

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

KCDC sends its best wishes to our Knox County

community for a happy and healthy New Year.

ANNUAL MEMBER/READER SURVEY

If you haven’t yet completed our annual member/reader survey, please do so now.  We want to hear from you and we value your feedback for our future planning!  

KCDC ELECTIONS TO BE HELD

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025

We hope that the welcome breather during the holiday season has refreshed your spirit. In January 2025, the incoming Administration in Washington, DC will offer Democrats a wealth of reasons and opportunities to swing back into action, especially at the local and state level. KCDC can remain strong only if Knox County Democrats step up to ensure we have a vibrant presence. The KCDC Executive Board anticipates a number of vacancies in key roles and committees in 2025. Our officers and standing committee chairs will be elected to two-year terms at our General Meeting on January 14, 2025. Additionally, KCDC will elect representatives to the Maine Democratic State and Rules Committees. Details are below.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work, so we encourage you to think about how you can contribute to a strong Democratic presence in Knox County. The following officer, committee, and representative positions will be up for election in January 2025.

More detailed information on these positions and their responsibilities will be found in the KCDC Bylaws and MDP Charter. 

OFFICER POSITIONS

Chair: Primary duties include serving as general executive officer and spokesperson for KCDC, presiding at all KCDC meetings, and serving as a liaison between the County, State and Caucus of County Chairs meetings.

Vice Chair: Primary duties including performing all the duties of the Chair in the absence of same.

Corresponding Secretary: Primary duties include monitoring incoming email for the organization, co-chairing the Communications Committee (see below) with the Recording Secretary, and maintaining the email and voter lists.  Currently we are using Google Drive and the email platform Mailchimp. After eight years, our current Corresponding Secretary Mary Winchell will be taking a break. She Is happy to talk to interested candidates and act as a mentor to the new person filling this role.  You can contact her by email.

Recording Secretary: Primary duties include keeping a record of all KCDC meetings and records attendance at meetings. With the Corresponding Secretary, serves as co-chair of the Communications Committee.

Treasurer: Primary duties include keeping a record of KCDC income and expenditures, developing a two-year budget along with the Executive Committee, and complying with the regulations and reporting requirements of the Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices.

Assistant Treasurer:  Assists the Treasurer in the performance of his/her duties.

COMMITTEE POSITIONS

The standing and ad hoc committees are the lifeblood of KCDC. Many of them involve a time commitment only at specific times of the year or during a campaign cycle, or for a few hours each month.

Communications Committee:  

Along with the Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, this committee:

• Maintains and updates the KCDC website and social media accounts;

• Creates the monthly KCDC Newsletter and other announcements distributed through our email platform; and

• Creates press releases.

This committee needs additional volunteers to divide and conquer the tasks associated with communications. Contact Corresponding Secretary Mary Winchell or Recording Secretary Linda Souers to discuss how your skills would enhance the work of this committee.

Issues, Program and Special Events Committee:

This committee:

• Works to arrange speakers for regular KCDC meetings on topics of interest to Democrats;

• Helps plan other events approved by KCDC; and

• Works with the Fundraising Committee on our principal fundraiser, the Lobster Bake. 

Candidate Support Committee:

This committee:

• Serves as a resource for local candidates running for election; and

• Liaises with Knox County municipal committees and towns to identify open positions in local elections and help recruit candidates.

Fundraising Committee:

This committee:

• Develops a plan for fundraising activities, including our major fundraiser, the Lobster Bake.

If you’ve enjoyed KCDC Lobster Bakes in the past and want to see them continue, a Venue Location sub-committee has been formed to locate an appropriate venue for our next Lobster Bake in 2026.

Liaison Committee:

This committee:

• Acts as the KCDC liaison with local and county Democratic party groups and other local, county and state groups involved in voting issues. 

REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS

Democratic State Committee (DSC)

This committee:

• Serves as the supreme governing body of the state party when the state convention is not in session.

Rules Committee

This committee:

• Recommends Charter and DSC Bylaws amendments to the State convention; and

• Proposes amendments to the Charter, Bylaws, or DSC Rules of Order to the DSC for adoption when the State convention is not in session.

COORDINATORS

Although not specifically mentioned in our bylaws, we’d love to see a few people step up to fill the following roles.

Volunteer Coordinator: 

This person will maintain the KCDC volunteer list and potentially help recruit volunteers needed by other planning groups.

CLYNK Bag Program Coordinator: 

This person orders supplies and fulfills requests for KCDC’s CLYNK redeemables program. A portion of KCDC’s operating funds are generated through the CLYNK program.

Logistics Coordinator: 

This person ensures the KCDC storage unit in Warren remains organized. This includes making sure things stay tidy and that borrowed items are returned after use during events, among other duties.

If you are interested in serving in any of these roles or positions, please email KCDC.

FINAL NOVEMBER 2024 ELECTION

RESULTS FOR MAINE RELEASED

The Maine Secretary of State has released the final official results for the November 2024 election.

All results below are from the Maine Secretary of State’s website.

NATIONAL ELECTION

When comparing the results of the 2020 and 2024 elections in Maine, we see that  the Republican ticket performed a little better in 2024 (44.9%) than it did in 2020 (43.5%) while the Democrats performed slightly worse in 2024 (51.7%) than it did in 2020 (52.5%), although still in the majority. The Harris/Walz ticket performed significantly better in Knox County (57.5%) than it did in the state of Maine as a whole (51.7%). Also of note, here in Knox County, the Harris/Walz ticket performance in 2024 (57.5%) was almost identical to that in 2020 (58%) for the Biden/Harris ticket.

The 2020 election results were:

NOVEMBER 2024 MAINE STATE ELECTIONS

U.S. SENATE

1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

KNOX COUNTY COMMISSIONER

KNOX COUNTY REGISTER OF PROBATE

Julie M. Allen (Republican)

(Write -in Candidate) 1,266 votes

Blank 25,224

Total ballots cast 26,490

MAINE STATE SENATE CANDIDATES IN KNOX COUNTY

MAINE STATE HOUSE RACES IN KNOX COUNTY

(with a Democratic candidate)

Photo: Maine State House (provided by Linda Souers)

Legislative Update

The first session of the 132nd Legislature will reconvene both houses on January 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM in the State House.  Knox County is fortunate to have re-elected all of our Democrats plus a new Democrat for Appleton. However the margins for Democrats are slim statewide. It will take continuous vigilance from all of us to support these elected representatives.

New joint standing committee assignments for all House representatives and Senators were announced mid-December.  

• Senator Anne “Pinny” Beebe-Center: Criminal Justice & Public Safety (Chair), and State & Local Government

• Senator Nicole Grohoski:  Taxation (Chair), and Energy, Utilities & Technology

• Senator Cameron Reny:  Appropriations & Financial Affairs, and Marine Resources

• Representative Vicki Doudera:  Environment & Natural Resources (Chair)

• Representative Holly Rae Eaton:  Marine Resources, and Transportation

• Representative Valli Geiger:  Labor, and Energy, Utilities & Technology

• Representative Ann Higgins Matlack:  Government Oversight, and State & Local Government, and Taxation

• Representative Michael Ray:  Transportation

Bills are now being proposed with a deadline to submit (cloture) on Friday, January 10, for this session. Select this link to see how a bill becomes a law.

Although no bills have been established yet with LD numbers that can be followed, we have the following reports on proposed action for this term.

Rep. Vicki Doudera reports that she will be sponsoring several bills this year, including the following:

• Three gun safety bills including “GOSAFE Maine” addressing assault weapons

• A domestic violence bill with input from “Finding Our Voices”

• Two  pesticide bills; one to deal with incidents of tree poisoning (such as occurred near Camden Harbor), and one restricting Neonicotinoids that have been partially responsible for deaths of honey bees

• A tax relief bill

• A bill to study geothermal heat networks

• A bill to create certified rabies vaccinators to help stem rise in rabies

• A bill to insure Maine government agencies account for climate impact in the procurement process for vehicles, boats, etc.

Rep. Valli Geiger reports that she will be sponsoring the following bills among others:

• A living wage bill

• A bill to reform rape kit legislation

• Property tax reform 

• A bill to reform the education fund

• Bills for the city of Rockland and the island of Matinicus

Please refer to the Legislative Calendar for schedules of committees and public hearings.

OBITUARY: EDWARD DOUDERA

We extend our condolences to Representative Vicki Doudera (D - Camden and Rockport) and her family on the death of her husband, Edward Doudera. See the notice in the PenBay Pilot. A Celebration of Life will be on Friday, January 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM at the First Congregational Church UCC, 55 Elm Street, Camden, Maine.

JANUARY 14, 2025

KCDC MONTHLY MEETING

KCDC will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 6:00 PM in-person in the Community Room of the Rockland Public Library, 80 Union Street, Rockland, ME.  

This month’s agenda includes (not necessarily in this order):

• Election of Officers

• KCDC Business

• Knox County Town Updates

• Announcements

NOTE: The Rockland Public Library is the new location for KCDC meetings for 2025.

All Knox County Democrats and unenrolled progressives are welcome to attend KCDC meetings.