BRUNSWICK
Maine Republicans will hold their statewide caucus on Saturday.
Jonathan Crimmins, the Cumberland County Republican Committee program chairman and Brunswick resident, said nice weather and a broad field of candidates should translate into a strong turnout.
In Cumberland County, voting will take place at Greely Middle School in Cumberland, with doors opening at 8 a.m. Lisbon and Durham residents will vote with Androscoggin County at Lewiston Middle School starting at noon. Lincoln County residents will vote at Wiscasset High School, with doors opening at 10 a.m., and Sagadahoc County residents will be voting at Bowdoin Central School starting at 11 a.m.
Crimmins said unregistered voters or independent voters who wish to participate are encouraged to register at their caucus.
“When you’re talking about a significant part of the population being independent, we want to try to get as many of those folks to come to register and support our candidates as possible,” Crimmins said. “And in doing so, if they want to stick around and work with us and volunteer on behalf of the candidates, even better.”
Crimmins said there will be refreshments and mingling, followed by speeches from candidate representatives. Congressional and local candidates will be on hand to address the attendees as well.
There are no presidential candidate appearances expected at any of the venues. However, Donald Trump was in Portland on Thursday with Gov. Paul LePage for a rally at the Westin Harborview, while Republican hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz has also scheduled a rally for today at the University of Maine in Orono.
Crimmins said the best part of the caucus is the networking and party building that takes place. It’s a place where people can find out if there are committees in their town or city that they can participate in and become more involved in their party.
Crimmins addressed the decision to hold voting away from areas that would typically be seen as county centers — holding the Sagadahoc County caucus in Bowdoin rather than Bath, for example.
He said geographically large areas like Cumberland County needed to be split up into regions in order to make travel distances more reasonable for all residents. He said the northeastern region will meet in Cumberland. The lakes region in the northwest will meet in Windham, and the Portland metro area meets in Westbrook.
Crimmins said they wanted to hold another caucus in Freeport, but ran into scheduling difficulties.
As far as party favorites at home, Crimmins said Maine Republicans reflect a similar breakdown for the top three frontrunners, Trump, Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, as party members nationally. Similarly, Crimmins said immigration and the economy are also big concerns for Maine Republicans.
“Depending on which numbers you look at, the economy may be doing OK, but I think there’s a general sense that it could do a lot better,” Crimmins said of what he’s been hearing among party members.
“You’ve got a lot of excitement, of course, (as) we’re just coming off of our neighbors in New Hampshire having their primary and a lot of excitement in Maine about that — it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Crimmins said.
Crimmins said that in the past, the party has only been able to look at two viable candidates by the time the Maine caucus rolled around. This election, he said, Republicans in Maine get the opportunity to vote on three who, according to Crimmins, are not only viable candidates but who could go on and win the election.
“There will be plenty of local and statewide candidates. There’ll be plenty of activists. There’ll be plenty of folks that sort of come in and see what it’s all about, so it should be a good time,” Crimmins said.
dmcintire@timesrecord.com
GOP caucus locations
• HERE IS A LIST of local caucus locations Saturday:
In Cumberland County, voting will take place at Greely Middle School in Cumberland, with doors opening at 8 a.m.
Lisbon and Durham residents will vote with Androscoggin County at Lewiston Middle School starting at noon.
Lincoln County residents will vote at Wiscasset High School, with doors opening at 10 a.m.
Sagadahoc County residents will be voting at Bowdoin Central School starting at 11 a.m.
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