On Election Day, Greene proved to be LePage country

Nearly 70 percent of those who voted in the Androscoggin County town cast their ballots for the governor. One says it's "because things have been accomplished."

Posted November 9, 2014

Updated November 9, 2014

Bob KeyesStaff Writer

4 min read

Font size +

Two towns tell tale of LePage vs. Michaud

HALLOWELL (Left): The town stands out as having the highest percentage of voters in the state who selected Democrat Mike Michaud in the Nov. 4 election. Michaud lost to incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE (Right): A shetland pony in Greene, a town that voted heavily for Gov. Paul LePage in the gubernatorial election. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer
HALLOWELL: Patti Burnett, owner of Dom’s Barbershop on Water Street, doesn’t talk politics in her shop, but she likes to quote former mayor Barry Timson, “who always said, ‘There are no strangers in this town. Only friends you haven’t met.'” Burnett says she considers Hallowell to be “like a Norman Rockwell” painting. She sits beneath a pair of snow shoes she wore as a kid. Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE: Ron Miller sits in his barber shop in Greene. “With our town, there was no doubt we would vote LePage. What I’ve heard was that people like LePage’s policies, but they don’t like his mouth. Well, this is the way I look at things, being a barber now, and a U.S. Navy diver for 20 years, I’m not politically correct at all. But the one thing about here, is your opinions matter. I like to hear all sides,” Miller said. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer
HALLOWELL: “It’s discouraging. It makes me embarrassed,” said Chris Flynn, left, 31, about Maine politics, after stopping at a coffee shop on Water Street with Garreth Brown, 25. Flynn said he did not vote in the recent election because he is “disgusted” with politics. Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE: Byron Boyington prepares to weld an air compressed part outside his home in Greene. Boyington was born and raised in Aroostook County, and said he primarily votes Democratic, and voted mostly along that party line in the midterm elections this year. “I am a democrat, and I was very seriously thinking about voting for LePage. There were a lot of things LePage has done that I thought was right, but one of the things I don’t like is that he ended three of my health insurances. The health insurance I have, the state doesn’t pay for it. I pay for it out of my own pocket. When he did that, there were a bunch of insurances that weren’t allowed to work in the state of Maine anymore. I didn’t vote for him because of that, but I considered it,” Boyington said. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer
HALLOWELL: “I started voting for Lyndon Johnson,” said Robert Saunders, 73, as he stopped at a coffee shop on Water Street. The lifelong Democrat said he is “not surprised” that Republican Gov. Paul LePage won re-election, and sees it as “an anti-Obama backlash.” Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE: A truck is parked at the Circle K in Greene, a town that voted heavily for Gov. Paul LePage. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer
HALLOWELL: “It’s a progressive place and very open-minded, without discrimination. It’s a little city that has respect for everyone despite their differences,” says Laurel Rouillard, right, with co-workers Rick Morrow and Katie Daggett outside the Cause 4 Paws Used Home Furnishings store on Water Street. Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE: Address signage in Greene, which voted heavily for Paul LePage in the gubernatorial election. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer
HALLOWELL: Rena Heath, 78, who has lived Hallowell for more than 40 years, says the town has many educated and young people who vote Democratic. Until 15 years ago, Heath said, she was an active member of Maine Republican State Committee. She switched to the Democratic Party leading up to the 2010 election “because I didn’t like the way the (Republican) party was headed. They just weren’t the party I used to work for and give money to,” she said while volunteering as a receptionist at the Spectrum Generations Cohen Center. “They used to be the party that supported women. Now they’re farthest behind. It’s sad.” Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

GREENE: Jean Mower stands at the cash register at Mower’s Market in Greene. Mower volunteered at the polling center this election, and said she saw a high turnout of voters in Greene. “I started voting the minute I turned 18. Last year I changed from Democrat to Republican, I didn’t like the way everything was going,” Mower said. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer

In Greene, Kathleen Nation didn’t flinch when she learned that nearly 70 percent of voters in the town where she waits tables voted for Paul LePage.

“I hear it every morning,” said Nation, filling a coffee mug at Hurricane’s Cafe & Deli on Route 202. “People are angry. They’re worried about where their money is going.”

Additional Images

Ron Miller sits in his barbershop in Greene, a town that voted heavily for Paul LePage. “With our town, there was no doubt we would vote (for)LePage. ... The way I look at things, being a barber now, and a U.S. Navy diver for 20 years, I’m not politically correct at all. But the one thing about here, is your opinions matter. I like to hear all sides,” Miller said.

GREENE: at a glance

County: Androscoggin

Known for: Bedroom community to Lewiston, Route 202 and Hurricane’s Cafe & Deli.

Population: 4,350*

Median age: 42.6

Median household income: $48,017

Have bachelor’s degree or higher: 22.5%**

Registered voters: 3,138

Democrats: 27%

No affiliation: 39%

Republicans: 27%

Green Party: 0.06%

2014 Gubernatorial election results

LePage: 69.1%

Michaud: 25.5%

Cutler: 5.4%

2010 Gubernatorial election results

LePage: 49.8%

Cutler: 26.9%

Mitchell: 14.2%

2012 Presidential election results

Romney: 48%

Obama: 47%

* Estimate as of July 1, 2013.

** Percentage of adults 25 and older.

Sources: Town of Greene; U.S. Census Bureau; Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions

Voters in Greene spoke with as much unity as voters in any town in Maine. Of the 2,165 Greene voters who cast ballots for governor on Tuesday, 1,497 of them voted for LePage. At 69.1 percent, that makes Greene the beating heart of LePage country.

Yet the number of Democrats and Republicans in town is just about even. Of the town’s 3,138 registered voters, 855 are enrolled as Democrats and 850 as Republicans. Their recent voting history doesn’t reveal any obvious trends. They chose LePage almost 2-to-1 over independent Eliot Cutler in 2010, but Mitt Romney barely edged Barack Obama for president in 2012.

People who voted for LePage on Tuesday supported him because of his record, said Susan Graham, a Democrat who voted for the incumbent Republican governor. She was among those getting her coffee mug refilled at Hurricane’s on Thursday morning.

“Why did we vote for LePage? Because things have been accomplished. Debts have been paid, and he’s getting the welfare system under control. He has the gumption to do it. Not that I agree with everything he says, but things get done,” Graham said.

“People are tired of listening to a bunch of political bloviators who get nothing done,” echoed Ron Miller, who operates a barbershop across the street from Hurricane’s. A self-described moderate Republican, he voted for LePage because “I want things done.”

Greene is a working-class community in Androscoggin County. It shares a border with Lewiston, and its defining feature is Route 202, which thunders through the middle of town. The handful of businesses in Greene operate in clusters along Route 202. There are two gas stations, a few used-car dealers, a locally owned IGA, a hardware store, beauty salon, barbershop and restaurant, among other businesses.

Most of the 4,350 residents with jobs leave town to make a living, said Town Manager Charles Noonan. Some drive to Lewiston or Auburn for work, others travel to Augusta. A few make the hourlong commute to Portland.

The largest employer is the regional school district, MSAD 52, which is headquartered nearby in Turner and operates an elementary school in Greene.

Greene prides itself on low taxes and slow growth, Noonan said. The property rate of $13.51 per $1,000 is steady, and voters generally do not support projects that add debt. Greene is conservative in its fiscal affairs, but otherwise not notably political, Noonan said.

“We’d rather pay for things as we go,” he said. “When we built the new town office, we paid cash for that. We save our money, and I think people respect that. We try not to spend more than we have. That’s the way the town operates, and I think that’s how people feel the state should operate.”

Most likely, LePage tapped into that sentiment, Noonan said. His message crossed party lines.

Brady Albert, whose family owns A&A Hardware, described Greene as a blunt town. Most people know it from driving through on Route 202. What you see is what you get, Albert said.

People are busy and hardworking, and generally mind their own business. They appreciate straight-talking people, and LePage’s direct demeanor and salty language resonate with them, he said.

As he spoke, Albert rang up the sale of the bargain bible Uncle Henry’s, for which Norman Tancrel handed over $2.11 in exact-change cash.

“He’s got a lot of (guts), and he’s not scared to show it,” Tancrel said of LePage. “That’s why I voted for him.”

Just behind Tancrel, Mike Randolph expressed surprise at LePage’s margin of victory. He expected a much closer race. “I just thought his demeanor and attitude would work against him,” said Randolph, who was among the 117 Greene residents who voted for Cutler.

Jean Provost voted for the Democrat, Mike Michaud. A recently retired barber, Provost doesn’t understand why his neighbors voted for LePage, who projected an image of red-faced anger. Most people he knows in Greene are content, Provost said. “They are making out all right,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what swung them over to LePage. But everywhere I went, it was, ‘LePage! LePage! LePage!”

The level of support for LePage felt intimidating, he said. He had planned to put Michaud signs on his property, but decided against it when he detected a wave of support for Le- Page. “I didn’t want to stir anything, so I didn’t put anything up,” he said.

He laughed at his decision. Disagreements about politics are common in big cities and small towns alike. The nice thing about living in Greene, he said, is that people don’t hold grudges. A political disagreement won’t end a friendship here, he said.

Comments are no longer available on this story

Send questions/comments to the editors.

Additional Images

GREENE: at a glance

Related Headlines