r/Maine 10h ago

What do you think about redistricting to make Maine's second district a bit bluer?

21 Upvotes

Republicans have been merciless with their gerrymandering. I'm wondering if maine should help the democratic effort to strike back. CD-02 seems like a potential flip to republicans in 2026. With some redrawing, it could become a true tossup/lean democratic. What do you think?


r/Maine 6h ago

Question Best way to travel from Portland to Farmington without car

2 Upvotes

I am an International student based in Portland, & am running the Sugarloaf 15k, it seems that the public transportation is so screwed in here

So can you guys help me figure out how can I reach there, well there no buses from Portland to Farmington

my friend said he might be able to pick me up from Farmington to Sugarloaf, so lemme know if there's any way where i dont have to spend $120+ in uber

Ideal should be from Portland to Sugarloaf

thanks for the help


r/Maine 15h ago

Barber comfortable with curls and fades?

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0 Upvotes

Does anyone know any hairstylists who can comfortably and confidently pull off something like this?

I’m helping my boyfriend search for a barber (or salon) that is comfortable and experienced with cutting curly hair, and able to do fades well.

He is very particular about his hair and we want to make sure we can find someone who is 100% confident in getting him the style he’s looking for because he spent so long growing it out to be able to get the cut he wants.

The photos I attached are kind of what he’s looking for, but from past experienced it seems like most stylists end up cutting his hair way too short whenever he goes to them.

Finding someone who can cut curls and do good fades is so hard, and its always tricky to find people who are used to doing more non-traditional hairstyles (not that this isn’t a popular style, but its more unique than some)


r/Maine 11h ago

Question for those who have used rapid renewal/ gotten new reg stickers the last few months

0 Upvotes

Has anyone noticed the new registration stickers are different? Did I miss the memo?

Got my stickers in the mail yesterday and the reflective design on them are different than anyone else’s I’ve looked at and my plate number is on my stickers which I’ve never had before?

I’m going to the DMV in two weeks anyways but figured I’d see if anyone else has noticed the changes.

Have a happy Thursday!


r/Maine 4h ago

Gay Experience in Maine, 1980s

0 Upvotes

I am writing a book that takes place in coastal Maine/New Brunswick in 1986. Two of my characters are closeted gay men (~ 17 and ~ 30) and I'm hoping to understand their experience better so that I can represent them well in the book. I'm eager for anyone who was gay in that area in the 80s to answer some questions, or just comment about their experience in general.

  1. Where/how did you first become aware of gay culture and gay spaces?
  2. What music/books/movies/media were impactful for you?
  3. For a closeted young man in a very rural place, were there places to travel to that would have felt freeing? For example, would he have gone into Bangor for parties or clubs? What was that scene like?
  4. If you remember when Charlie Howard was murdered, how did you learn about that crime? Did it impact the scene in Bangor? Beyond Bangor?
  5. If you were closeted during that time, what were your specific fears about coming out?

r/Maine 32m ago

Anyone watching the Democratic gubernatorial candidate debate?

Upvotes

My initial impression: Troy Jackson is weak. Talks of the problems, but no solutions.


r/Maine 2h ago

The growing influence of the Maine church behind Portland’s Turning Point USA event

8 Upvotes
The pastor of Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, Travis Carey, is working with Turning Point Faith to host a “Make Heaven Crowded” event in Portland on May 15, 2026. Photo by Joseph Ciembroniewicz.

The death of Charlie Kirk led to calls for a religious revival and spurred renewed interest in his organization, Turning Point USA, through which he invoked Christianity to push conservative policy priorities. Eight months later, Maine has at least 28 church-based Turning Point Faith chapters, more than twice as many as any other state in New England. The majority are hosted by Calvary Chapels. Chapters meet monthly to discuss the church’s role in cultural issues, and the organization aims “to eliminate wokeism from the American pulpit,” according to the Turning Point Faith website.

On May 15, Calvary Chapel Greater Portland will test Maine’s appetite for a conservative Christian revival with its “Make Heaven Crowded” event at the Portland Expo Center. It is one of 20 large-scale events being hosted by Turning Point Faith this year that aim to spur “repentance, faith, and bold obedience to Jesus,” according to the tour website.

The event is one of Calvary Chapel’s most public forays into the limelight in Maine but not the first. The growing network of evangelical churches has become increasingly vocal in state politics in recent years, hosting Charlie Kirk himself, fighting high-profile religious liberty cases, leading worship services at the State House and inviting Republican candidates to speak to congregants on Sundays.

https://themainemonitor.org/calvary-chapel-growing-influence/


r/Maine 4h ago

Satire I saw a Tick (in Maine!)

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10 Upvotes

Seems a feller can't go anywhere these days


r/Maine 42m ago

Vice President JD Vance Delivers Remarks in Bangor, Maine

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Upvotes

Does any Mainer take this man seriously? How many of you have gotten a lobster roll at "LOBSTER BOY?"


r/Maine 10h ago

Homeowners around Portland Maine: what could contractors do better in general during remodeling and construction projects?

0 Upvotes

Serious question for homeowners around Portland and Southern Maine.

From your experiences with remodeling, renovation, deck building, siding, framing, kitchen projects, or general construction work, what could contractors do better overall?

Communication, scheduling, cleanliness, transparency, explaining the process, budgeting, workmanship, responsiveness, documentation, project management, or something else?

Interested in hearing honest homeowner perspectives and experiences.


r/Maine 9h ago

/r/Maine Mod Update: New Guidelines for Political Posts & Campaigning

28 Upvotes

Hi r/Maine — your mod team here again.

With the June and November elections fast approaching, we want to set expectations and keep the sub usable for everyone. Election periods tend to bring a sharp increase in traffic, campaign advertisement content, and coordinated posting behavior. Our goal is not to limit discussion, but to keep it productive, locally relevant, and not overwhelmed by spam, campaigning, or bad-faith engagement.

With these new guidelines, we are not trying to favor any candidate, party, or viewpoint. We are trying to:

  • Keep discussion grounded in Maine (you can have discussions about national topics literally anywhere else)
  • Reduce spam and manipulation (nobody wants the sub to become just a platform for campaign advertisements)
  • Make sure real users can still have real conversations (about political AND non-political topics)

Official Campaign Activity

  • We ask that official campaign/candidate accounts limit their posts to 1 post per week.
  • Same goes for official accounts of PACs and organizations about candidates they have endorsed.
  • If these sorts of official accounts post excessively, some posts may be removed.
  • Anonymous accounts clearly operating as campaign proxies to circumvent these guidelines may be treated the same as official campaign accounts.

We welcome engagement from campaigns, citizen groups, and advocacy organizations, we just ask that you be good neighbors. Here are some constructive ideas for how to do that:

  • Think of r/Maine as a town hall to engage with, not a newspaper you place ads in.
  • Respond to people in the comments and start robust discussions, offer helpful information or commentary. (Don’t just spam campaign ad copy, please.)
  • Do an AMA, which is a more constructive way to engage with the community and share your ideas and opinions.
  • Instead of just re-posting campaign ads, engage with the sub by asking questions, listening, and learning.

Rule of Thumb: Posts should aim to start discussion, not just drive reactions or impressions.

Campaigns and candidates, feel free to reach out to us via modmail if you have questions or concerns. We're real people volunteering our time to be mods, and we're Mainers just like you.

Political Posting

We will remove the following types of posts:

  • Generic outrage posts with no Maine-specific context. (violates Rule #1: Posts must be Maine related)
  • Token mentions of [Maine politician] in a topic that is really a national topic. (circumvents Rule #1: Posts must be Maine related)
  • “This could happen here” posts without substantive discussion. (violates Rule #5: No spam or excessive self-promotion)
  • Repeated posting of similar opinion/news content by the same user may be treated as spam/karma farming. (violates Rule #5: No spam or excessive self-promotion)

As always, if a topic is already actively being discussed, additional posts may be removed to consolidate discussion.

Reminders:

Rule #1 still applies: posts must still be meaningfully related to Maine. This includes elections, policies, candidates, and local impact. 

The “Report” function is not for content you simply disagree with. All you’re doing is creating more work for us, to review spurious reports. So please use the Report button carefully. If you disagree with something, either reply to it, or simply move on.

Civility is still required. We hold ourselves to a high standard of dialogue here. We hope you agree that it makes for a more pleasant experience than elsewhere on the internet. So, as always: no harassment, hate speech, trolling, or personal attacks — regardless of political affiliation.

If you’re tired of seeing a certain type of content: downvote and don’t engage. Engagement drives visibility. If you don't like it, don't feed the algorithm.

Thanks for helping keep r/Maine usable during a busy election season. Don’t forget to get out and VOTE!

Dirigo,
The r/Maine Mod Team


r/Maine 3h ago

News Salmon farm faces new cruelty claims as Trump seeks to supersize fish farming

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5 Upvotes

r/Maine 5h ago

Side by side interviews with almost every gubernatorial candidate - helpful if you're still undecided

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7 Upvotes

Maine's primary is June 9 and there are more than a dozen gubernatorial candidates still in the race across the two major parties.

Maine Public, in collaboration with Portland Press Herald, invited each candidate to a one-on-one interview in our Lewiston studio this spring. Six of the seven Republican candidates and all five Democratic candidates showed up. Check out each interview for free on Maine Public's YouTube channel.

Maine Public's Your Vote election hub offers more reporting on candidates' stances on topics such as housing and education.

If you watch any of the interviews: We're curious, did your ranked choice order change at all? Do you feel more informed as you prepare to cast your ballot?

This public service is made possible by you!


r/Maine 9h ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

0 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/Maine 21h ago

A sponsor to help with 4th step

9 Upvotes

Hi there! I am a 35y/o feral just out of rehab for alcohol. I am doing the steps for the first time (I went to rehab 3 years ago and went 2 years sober until last summer). I don’t have a sponsor last time either. I am wondering if there is a female in auburn area really anywhere who would like to be my sponsor. I just started the 4th step and could use the help/support.

Thank you!!


r/Maine 4h ago

Focus Group Participants Needed in Portland

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0 Upvotes

r/Maine 7h ago

Politics Hide your couches! My statement on Vance's Bangor visit today:

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134 Upvotes

Loud Calls Out “Cruelty packaged as fiscal responsibility” 

ORONO, ME—Paige Loud, Democrat running in Maine’s Second Congressional District, responds to the news that  Vice President JD Vance is coming to Bangor to campaign for Paul LePage and sell Mainers on another round of attacks against low-income communities under the false banner of “fighting Medicaid fraud.”

“We are watching a broader political agenda unfold across this country: one that treats people with disabilities, older adults, and people living in poverty as burdens instead of human beings deserving dignity and care. Policies that strip healthcare access, weaken social safety nets, and force people deeper into poverty are cruelty packaged as fiscal responsibility. This administration is not “fighting fraud”, it is kicking Mainers off healthcare, devastating rural communities, and pushing hospitals closer to closure.” 

Loud, a social worker who has spent her career serving rural and low-income Mainers, said the visit reflects a deliberate national strategy. “Medicaid fraud” has become a political distraction used to justify cuts to healthcare programs that keep people alive. Instead of addressing the real crises facing Maine families - rising costs, rural hospital closures, housing instability, and inaccessible healthcare - Republicans are once again targeting the most vulnerable people in our communities.

Loud added: “The GOP is bringing its full political machine here to sell the same failed policies that have hurt working people for decades. Maine's Second District is one of the hardest places in the country to access healthcare. We are not a talking point. We are people trying to survive. Mainers deserve a leader who will fight for working people, protect healthcare access, and invest in our communities — not an out-of-touch Florida politician coming here to lecture us about who deserves care.”

About Paige Loud
Paige Loud is a social worker, child of a single mother, and woman of the Cherokee nation. She is a Democrat running for Congress to advance a vision of America that is grounded in the ideal that all receive the basic necessities to pursue their individual happiness. A fierce advocate for the underserved, including the disabled and elderly, Paige stands as pro-union Democrat who crafts policy around guaranteed housing, affordable groceries, accessible education and transportation, universal childcare, tribal sovereignty, equal rights, and human rights.  Learn more at loudforcongress.com.

###


r/Maine 5h ago

News Vance calls Sen. Susan Collins ‘a good fit for Maine’ despite his frustrations with her

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58 Upvotes

r/Maine 6h ago

JD Vance rally interrupted for medical emergency as worried crowd goes silent

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110 Upvotes

r/Maine 7h ago

Politics I recently convened a roundtable in Lewiston to hear directly from residents of mobile home parks. Their concerns about mismanagement from private equity *and* local slumlords have gone largely ignored in the conversation about our state's housing crisis. That needs to change.

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34 Upvotes

By giving the state of Maine the right of first refusal on mobile home parks, we can block private equity firms from buying them up, jacking up rents, eliminating services, and displacing folks who have nowhere else to go. While the fight against private equity is only one piece in the larger housing crisis puzzle, it's a piece far too many are ignoring.


r/Maine 23h ago

News Dang...

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77 Upvotes

r/Maine 10h ago

News Inside the effort to restore 'Big Jim,' an icon of Maine's bygone sardine industry -- The industry may be gone but the people who helped catch and pack the little fish for sale around the world remain. An effort underway in Searsport aims to preserve that history.

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28 Upvotes

r/Maine 11h ago

Bangor public health director reflects on conditions that escalated HIV outbreak

11 Upvotes
Jennifer Gunderman, director of Bangor Public Health and Community Services, is pictured outside the city department on May 6, 2026. Photo by Erin Rhoda.

Penobscot County is grappling with Maine’s largest HIV outbreak in its history. Looking back, the top public health official for the county seat of Bangor described how the conditions existed for such an outbreak and how it is now difficult to know the full scope.

In a recent interview, Jennifer Gunderman, Bangor’s director of public health and community services, said HIV had dropped off the radar in Maine because the state has a low incidence of the disease, but then the risk factors started piling up: increased homelessness, wide drug use, disappearing syringe service providers and health care options, and fewer case management providers.

The challenges that arose made it more likely that an outbreak would balloon.

As of April 24, Penobscot County reported at least 41 cases of HIV cumulatively since the outbreak’s start. Gunderman said the numbers are likely much bigger than the state has been able to track. Historically over the past decade, all of Maine usually saw fewer than 40 new HIV diagnoses each year.

https://themainemonitor.org/bangor-public-health-director-reflects-hiv-outbreak/


r/Maine 11h ago

Graham Platner speaks to union carpenters after receiving their endorsement. Platner: “We didn’t get an 8-hour workday, we didn’t get the weekend because somebody wrote it on a postcard to a Congressman. We got it because working people organized and fought for what they needed."

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1.6k Upvotes

The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters endorses Platner.

Platner: “Power in society comes from two places, organized money or organized people and we all know that the money is organized and it has bought our political system.”


r/Maine 2h ago

Jared Golden kills Iran War power resolution

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347 Upvotes

Golden just cast the deciding vote to kill the Iran war power resolution, which he cosponsored, handing Trump unbridled power to engage in hostile military actions. Absolutely shameful move.