What I'm hearing

Responsibly sourced gossip from the halls of power.

🧹 This power vacuum is a reason for instability among Maine Republicans.

◉ Sources are great. I was taking down the Christmas tree on Saturday (it was getting crispy) when my phone started to light up with Republicans alerting me to Joel Stetkis' ouster as state party chair. The leadership fight had been so quiet that I hadn't even been tracking it. York County Republican Committee Chairman Jim Deyermond took over following the narrow vote.

◉ If this story sounds familiar, it should. Stetkis similarly unseated three-team chair Demi Kouzounas in leadership elections two years ago. That was after a bad cycle marked by former Gov. Paul LePage's loss to Gov. Janet Mills. The 2024 cycle was better with Republicans gaining ground in the Legislature, but they also fell short of ousting Rep. Jared Golden in the 2nd District.

◉ Stetkis won his election while promising to devote resources to the legislative races. Despite gaining seats, the party's fundraising on the state side was relatively low. It brought in $783,000 to nearly $3.6 million for Democrats, who typically outspend Republicans in legislative races but were at a deficit at times in key races during this round of really close campaigns.

◉ It was seen as a missed opportunity by legislative insiders and activists. Republicans finished 30 votes shy of a House majority that would have upended Mills' final term as governor. They are now on the outside looking in for the fourth straight election.

◉ It isn't inherently important who the state party chair is. Democrats have also had a revolving door during Mills' tenure. But LePage's 2022 loss sapped them of their most dominant grassroots figure who helped Kouzounas through leadership fights and provided some structure to the party.

◉ With the 2026 election looming, Republicans don't have a clear hierarchy of open-seat gubernatorial candidates. President-elect Donald Trump is the person who most animates the grassroots. Given all this, it may not be so surprising that the state party went in a different direction.

What are you hearing? Send tips to mshepherd@bangordailynews.com.

What I'm reading

News and notes

⚡ Maine had one of the nation's biggest electricity price spikes.

◉ The cost ot electricity rose in Maine rose by 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour between 2019 and 2023, which was third-highest among states behind Hawaii and California, according to a recent report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Read it.

◉ Other states in the Northeast saw notable increases as well. Nationally, the report blames rising rates on investments in the grid. Retail electricity sales were largely flat and were not a major cost driver.

◉ Debates over electric rates are particularly charged in Maine, which has generous subsidies for community solar projects that have factored into rate hikes of late. Republicans want to repeal them, but the industry says the focus on costs ignores the economic benefits of putting so many projects up.

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