More than two dozen officers of Democratic town committees in Lincoln County met recently in Newcastle to share ideas and organize for the fall election season.

Following a successful local organizing campaign held in June and July, 17 of Lincoln County’s 19 towns have active local Democratic committees. Officers from almost all of the local groups attended the meeting, held at the Lincoln County Democratic Committee (LCDC) campaign headquarters at 3 Hall Street in Newcastle.

Presenters included Howard Waxman, LCDC campaign manager; Merrill Truluck, field representative for the Maine House Democratic Campaign Committee; and April Thibodeau, vice chair of the Westport Island Democrats and former party affairs director for the Maine Democratic Party.

“It was great to see people so engaged in sharing experiences, and furiously taking notes on how to build their own committees,” Waxman said.

Participants discussed ideas for new member recruitment; learned about LCDC’s communications resources; heard about state and party guidelines for local political committees; and how to keep people engaged in the off-election years.

Newly elected municipal chair Mary Devlin of Damariscotta remarked, “I feel more empowered, and better prepared, to grow our committee to help Democrats win this November, and in 2024.”

There are active town Democratic committees in Alna, Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Dresden, Jefferson, Newcastle, Nobleboro, Somerville, Southport, Waldoboro, Westport Island and Wiscasset. The towns of Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and South Bristol have combined efforts as the Boothbay Regional Committee.

Many of the local committees have already held meetings and events throughout the summer months to meet with Democratic candidates for county and state office, paint campaign signs, march in local parades, canvass, write letters to the editor and recruit more people to join efforts to elect Democrats in November. More activities and meetings are planned in the coming months.

To find contact information for your town committee, visit https://lincolncountydemocrats.com/towns. For a list of upcoming town committee meetings, visit the LCDC events calendar at https://lincolncountydemocrats.com/events/.