(NEWS CENTER Maine) -- For the first time in 102 years, an incumbent Congressman has been defeated in Maine's second district. Rep. Bruce Poliquin lost his seat despite having a lead in the initial vote count on election night. Democrat Jared Golden passed him when ranked choice ballots were tabulated last Thursday.
NEWS CENTER Maine political analysts John Richardson and Phil Harriman say this is precisely what backers of ranked choice voting had in mind.
Richardson says "It allows people to have first and second choices, in my mind that's a great thing."
Harriman adds "What's going to be interesting is to see is weather the Poliquin campaign can persuade the federal courts that this was in some way unconstitutional. If it's not, ranked choice voting, I predict, will run rampant across the country through legislatures."
Poliquin's suit to overturn the RCV process will proceed in the courts, perhaps all the way to the top. Says Richardson, "The Supreme Court needs to say, 'either we're not going to take it up, or we are going to take it up, and we find it to be either constitutional or not constitutional.' We need to know."
Representative-elect Jared Golden is a Marine veteran, one of more than 75 vets being sent to Congress in January.
Harriman says most veterans tend to lean Republican. "I think Democrats did a really good job of recruiting veterans to their side of the aisle."
Richardson says all of those vets in Congress could have a very positive impact. "I think what's going to happen is these people are going to start working together. I think one of the reasons they ran is that they saw Congress was broken, and in the military you learn that you must work together, you have a mission and everybody counts, and teamwork does matter."
The loss of the second district seat makes New England almost entirely "Blue" England. There will be no Republicans from New England in the U.S. House, and only one in the senate: Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
Harriman says this region of the country clearly has decided that it doesn't want the Republican philosophy in Congress.
And Richardson thinks Sen. Collins was lucky not to have been on the 2018 ballot. "I think what happened is basically people saying we've had enough of voting for tax breaks for billionaires, we've had enough of cuts to Medicare, and that's not how we value our society, it's not what we want. And I think she's very lucky to have escaped the election of 2018."
Political Brew airs Sundays on The Morning Report.