
We celebrate Mike Tipping’s reelection to the Maine State Senate. Tipping was sworn in on December 4 after a nail-biter of a campaign which prompted a hand recount of votes in his contest against Republican Leo Kenney. On November 22, state officials confirmed Tipping had won reelection by 132 votes.
Tipping was the longtime communications director and is now research director for the Maine People’s Alliance, part of the People’s Action network. At MPA, Tipping founded an award-winning news organization, the Maine Beacon, and helped hold the former owners of the HoltraChem plant accountable for mercury pollution in the Penobscot River through a landmark federal lawsuit and mandated ecosystem-wide cleanup.
““I am honored to return to Augusta and continue to serve as state senator for our communities,” said Tipping. “I plan to continue my work to address ballooning medical debt to address rising costs for Mainers. I also intend to introduce new legislation to crack down on health insurance company claims denials and remove unnecessary tax breaks for out-of-state corporations.”
MPA plays a leading role in People’s Action’s rural cohort, and has helped make Maine the only rural state led by Democrats. MPA has helped claw back the state’s legislature and Governor’s office from Republican control over the last two cycles by supporting progressive candidates up and down the ballot. In this cycle, two-thirds of MPA’s endorsed candidates, from school board to the statehouse, won. They also helped Democrat Jared Golden win reelection to the U.S. House, overcoming $6 million in dark-money spending to elect his MAGA rival, former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault.
“Perhaps the secret to winning the working class isn’t about aligning strictly with the left, right, or center,” writes Ben Chin, deputy director of MPA, in the Beacon. “Most regular people — across races, classes, and geographies — just want leaders who fight passionately for their beliefs, accept their wins and losses with humility, and still find ways to make tangible progress.”