| Maine Republican Party | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Charlie Webster |
| Headquarters | 9 Higgins Street Augusta, ME 04330 |
| Ideology | Conservative Center-Right |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Official colors | Red |
| Website | |
| www.mainegop.org/ | |
| Politics of the United States Political parties Elections |
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The Maine Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party (GOP) in Maine. It was founded in Strong, Maine on August 7, 1854. The state Chairman is Charles M. Webster.
The Maine GOP is noted for its historically strong state College Republican federation. Other affiliate groups include the Maine Federation of Republican Women and the Maine Federation of Young Republicans.
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The Republican Party formed in Maine in 1854 due to Prohibition and the abolitionist movement. Hannibal Hamlin left the Democratic Party because of the slavery issue and helped form the Republican Party and he was the state’s first Republican governor. In 1860, he became the first Republican Vice President after Lincoln won presidency.
From the 1860s until 1900, James G. Blaine rose as a dominant Republican figure. He was the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State for three Republican administrations. He ran for President in 1884 but lost to Grover Cleveland. In the late 1800s, Thomas B. Reed served in the House of Representatives for three terms. He started many reforms and was known as “Czar Reed”. “Reed’s Rules of Order” are still used in Maine Legislatures.
Margaret Chase Smith was the first American woman elected to both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1964, she was placed in the nomination for presidency at the Republican National Convention. The Republicans remained in power until 1954 when young progressives from the Democratic Party gained strength.[1]
The Maine Republican Party controls the governor's office and holds a majority in both the Maine Senate and Maine House of Representatives. It also holds both U.S. Senate seats.
Leadership:[2]
It caused a stir during its 2010 convention when the historically moderate party passed a radical platform supported by "Tea Party" activists. The new platform calls for the elimination of the US Department of Education and the Federal Reserve board, the rejection of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a freeze and prohibition on stimulus spending, and the prosecution of perpetrators of the global warming myth. It also demands a“return to the principles of Austrian Economics,” and the assertion that “not a right” but “a service” that can be addressed only by using “market based solutions.” Indeed, the platform says,"The principles upon which the Republican Party was founded, to which we as Citizens seek return, and to which we demand our elected representatives abide, are summarized as follows: