2024 Maine Democratic presidential primary
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The 2024 Maine Democratic presidential primary took place on March 5, 2024, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2024 presidential election. 24 delegates to the Democratic National Convention were allocated, with 8 additional unpledged delegates.[1] The contest was held on Super Tuesday alongside primaries in 14 other states and territories.
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March 5, 2024
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32 delegates (24 pledged, 8 unpledged) to the Democratic National Convention | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As the incumbent, Joe Biden easily won around 83% of votes, with limited opposition from representative Dean Philips, who gathered just over 6% of the vote. Additionally, there was a portion of more than 10 % of blank ballots, inspired by the anti-Gaza war movements in the previous primaries of New Hampshire and Michigan.
Procedure
This was the first semi-closed primary where while party members could only vote in their respective party's primary, unenrolled voters were allowed to choose a party's primary to participate in. This change in law from Maine's previous closed primary went into effect on May 14, 2022, without Gov. Janet Mills' signature.[2] The state party also received a waiver to use a ranked-choice voting system, as it had been introduced in Maine state elections, but due to only two candidates on the ballot, this became unnecessary.[1]
Candidates
The filing deadline was December 1.[3] Two candidates met the requirements to collect 2,000 signatures and appear on the ballot:[4][5]
Write-in campaign
The Maine Coalition for Palestine launched an effort to convince voters to write-in "Ceasefire" in the primary, drawing inspiration from a similar campaign in New Hampshire and the success of the campaign for uncommitted votes in Michigan.[6] However, as Maine state law only requires that votes for declared write-in candidates be tallied, these votes were counted as blank ballots.[7]
Endorsements
Individuals
- Donald Sussman, hedge fund executive[8]
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
Joe Biden |
Cory Booker |
Pete Buttigieg |
Kamala Harris |
Amy Klobuchar |
Gavin Newsom |
Jared Polis |
Bernie Sanders |
Elizabeth Warren |
Marianne Williamson |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Research Inc.[9] | Mar 22 – April 22, 2023 | 202 (LV) | – | 31% | 3% | 11% | 18% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 27% | 10% | 1% |
Results
| Candidate | Votes | % | Delegates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Biden (incumbent) | 60,018 | 82.81 | 24 |
| Dean Phillips | 4,623 | 6.38 | 0 |
| Other candidates (write-in)[b] | 480 | 0.66 | — |
| Blank ballots | 7,359 | 10.15 | — |
| Total | 72,480 | 100% | 24 |
Results by county
Biden won every county by a comfortable margin. He performed best in Lincoln County, reaching slightly less than 90% of the vote. Conversely, he recorded his worst result in Aroostook County, where both Phillips and blank ballots reached their best performance. Phillips secured the second place in Franklin, Kennebec and Oxford counties, while falling to the third in the other thirteen.[11]
| County | Biden | Phillips | Blank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Androscoggin | 77.77% | 10.18% | 11.38% |
| Aroostook | 73.42% | 10.72% | 15.17% |
| Cumberland | 81.71% | 5.23% | 12.91% |
| Franklin | 84.5% | 8.3% | 6.98% |
| Hancock | 84.91% | 4.32% | 9.66% |
| Kennebec | 84.65% | 7.44% | 6.66% |
| Knox | 85.71% | 3.96% | 9.58% |
| Lincoln | 88.59% | 4.25% | 7.16% |
| Oxford | 83.01% | 8.31% | 7.1% |
| Penobscot | 81.12% | 7.77% | 8.73% |
| Piscataquis | 81.5% | 9.06% | 9.45% |
| Sagadahoc | 85.46% | 4.78% | 7.92% |
| Somerset | 80.04% | 9.08% | 9.22% |
| Waldo | 82.54% | 5.19% | 11% |
| Washington | 81.93% | 6.69% | 10.08% |
| York | 84.37% | 7.26% | 8.36% |
Results by congressional district
Biden won both districts by more than 80% of the vote. Both he and blank votes performed better in the smaller, more urban first district,[12][13] while Phillips recorded a better result in the larger, more rural second district, which was also the only one in New England to back Donald Trump in 2020.[14]
