Type Upper house New session started December 3, 2014 | Term limits 4 terms (8 years) | |
 | ||
President of the Senate Michael Thibodeau (R)
Since December 3, 2014 Majority Leader Garrett Mason (R)
Since December 3, 2014 Minority Leader Troy Jackson (D)
Since December 7, 2016 | ||
The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, though the Maine Constitution allows for "an odd number of Senators, not less than 31 nor more than 35". Unlike the lower House, the Senate does not set aside nonvoting seats for Native tribes. Because it is a part-time position, members of the Maine Senate usually have outside employment as well.
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Map of Maine, USA
The Senate meets at the Maine State House in Augusta. Members are limited to four consecutive terms with each term being two years but may run again after a two-year wait.
Leadership
Unlike many U.S. states, the Senate's leader is not the lieutenant governor, as Maine does not have a lieutenant governor. Instead, the Senate chooses its own president, who is also the first in the line of gubernatorial succession.
Composition of the Senate
128th Legislature, 2016-2018One seat was initially in dispute due to a discrepancy in the number of ballots counted. Senate District 25 was won on election night by Democrat Catherine Breen by 32 votes. However, a recount put Republican Cathy Manchester in the lead by 11. The new Republican-led Senate formed a committee to determine what happened and who won the seat. Manchester, the Republican, was provisionally seated pending the outcome of the investigation. The committee found during its investigation that 21 ballots for Manchester were counted twice, which meant that Breen was the actual winner. Manchester resigned her seat and conceded Breen won the race.
Members of the Maine Senate
Districts are currently numbered starting with 1 from north to south. This is reversed after each decennial redistricting, which will next occur in 2021 and will go into effect beginning with the 2022 primary and general elections. The current district lines, which were drawn in 2013 and were first used in the 2014 primary and general elections, will only be in effect for 8 years rather than the usual 10 as Maine adjusts its legislative redistricting cycle to conform with most other states.