Your assertion in “The consequences of an election” (Our Viewpoint, Nov. 10) was right on the mark: What contributed to Sara Gideon’s defeat in the Senate race was not only the stated “power of the incumbency,” but also the advertising of her as being “from away.”
The latter disgusts me and makes me ashamed of being a native Mainer.
In my 71 years living here (except three years in exile in North Carolina), I have come to understand that to be “from away” is also code for being other, wealthy, foreign (as in carpetbagger or national origin), and/or non-WASP. Unfortunately, Sara Gideon ticked nearly all of those real or imagined boxes.
We may think we are pure northern New Englanders, coming from a heritage of abolitionists and liberal thinkers. In reality, we are not exempt from unconscious bias and systemic racism. We Mainers have a long learning curve to turn.
To Susan Collins, I would say: I did not vote for you, but congratulations on winning your unprecedented fifth term in the Senate, and shame on you.
Martha Mickles
Cape Elizabeth