Oct. 20—HAMPDEN — Susan Taylor shuffles behind the counter at the public library in this suburban Penobscot County town.
The 66-year-old offers a warm greeting to young parents arriving with children for story hour and retirees looking for the latest good read. But when it comes to anything political, Taylor keeps patrons at arm’s length.
“I try not to talk politics unless I know who I’m talking to,” she said, calling herself the only “right of center” member of her family. “It’s gotten harder in recent years. The sides are just so polarized.”
It’s a common refrain in interviews with locals here. People are both reluctant to engage in debates or conversations about issues, but also aching to get back to a time and place where that was possible.
“There aren’t a lot of venues for real disagreement anymore,” Taylor explained. “People will nod in agreement and then go post the opposite on social media.”
Hampden, situated on the western bank of the Penobscot River, is a bedroom community of Bangor, and a growing one. Population has increased 22% since 1990, more than twice as fast as the state overall. Young families with children have been lured by the good schools and slower pace of life.
Although the town has been reliably conservative — registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 38%-30% — Hampden is one of only a handful of Maine communities that voted for Republican Donald Trump for president in 2016, but then flipped to support Democrat Joe Biden four years later. Others included Auburn and Sanford.
Will it flip again? Has the town become an electoral tossup?
Vice President Kamala Harris has a moderate-sized lead overall in Maine, according to the few public polls that have been released, but Trump has the edge among voters in the vast, mostly rural 2nd Congressional District where Hampden sits.
“Hampden has changed demographically, and possibly politically, (although) that remains to be seen,” said Shelby Wright, who moved here in 2005 from North Carolina and has been active in local politics. She’s running as an independent for a Maine House of Representatives seat.
“I’ve knocked on so many doors in town and I feel like people all want the same things, a future for children if they have any, reasonable property taxes, good jobs, infrastructure, health care. But they are exhausted almost across the board, regardless of age or party, of the constant finger-pointing and blame game.”
Mandy Barrington, 33, lives in nearby Carmel but comes to Hampden regularly, including to the library with her two young kids.
She pays close attention to politics but like others chooses her words carefully when talking to a reporter.
“Really what matters to me is character of leaders,” she said. “It’s sort of sad we’re not seeing a lot of that right now.”
Until recently, Barrington worked at the University of Maine in Orono, a liberal college town she said feels quite different from the rural town she comes home to.
“I just try to have authentic conversations, but it’s hard to be a thoughtful citizen in both spaces,” she said.
Is it harder now?
“Absolutely. One hundred percent,” Barrington said. “You tiptoe around and have objective conversations without sort of showing your cards.”
Although she doesn’t mention Trump by name, it’s clear that’s who she means when she talks about character. She doesn’t seem sold on Harris either, and declined to say who she plans to vote for.
Across town at a playground, Meagan Brasslett watches her 5-year-old daughter Leigha make mushroom pizza out of woodchips.
Brasslett homeschools her daughter, a trend she says seems to have caught on.
“I have a lot of friends who have gotten into the whole homeschool kick,” she said. “There are so many politics around sending your kid to school these days.”
Brasslett said many of those friends have been upset with vaccine mandates, as well.
Brasslett, 35, grew up in Hampden and was surprised to learn the town had shifted from Trump to Biden between 2016 and 2020.
“I am shocked,” she said. “I thought Trump really won everybody over, to be honest. I didn’t want to like him at first, but then I liked him. I still think he’s a good guy.”
As for Harris, Brasslett said she expects her to win but that makes her nervous.
“She’s very flip-floppy,” she said. “I don’t know where she stands.”
“I love my flip flops,” said 5-year-old Leigha.
The town doesn’t have many true gathering places, but Coffee Break Café is one of them.
By late morning, the tiny restaurant at the intersection of Western Avenue and Main Road is bustling.
Owner Laurie Wilbur said she’s noticed people talk politics less frequently than they used to, and that’s OK with her.
Robert Drew, 71, enjoys a late breakfast a couple times a week. Drew likes to sit at the counter alone and listen to the conversations around him. But when it comes to his own politics, well, he keeps that close.
“You don’t know where people are coming from,” he said. “It’s harder now. So, I try not to say too much.”
He comes from a family of Republicans and if pressed, would say he leans that way, too. But much of that national conversation doesn’t feel that relevant to his life.
Linda and Jerry Sherrard, 78 and 82 respectively, are regulars, too.
Both are retired and their views are traditionally conservative, but they stopped short of saying Trump has their support.
“I think people are tired of all the promises. They will do anything to get elected,” Jerry said, apparently referring to all candidates. “And the mudslinging, people get tired of that, too. The media is as bad as the politicians.”
Asked what matters most to them, the Sherrards said Social Security and spending.
“We send billions of dollars overseas, but a lot of that money could be used here,” Jerry said.
“This immigration thing is getting to be a big topic, too,” added Linda.
She’s referring to reports that the city of Bangor is preparing to welcome as many as 150 immigrant families in the coming weeks.
Like others, the Sherrards tread lightly with their own views.
“Everybody should be entitled to their opinion without being scared to say anything,” Jerry said. “People might be close to the same thing, but they’ll beat up on each other.”
Back at the library, Ted Sherwood is returning books.
He’s 82, retired from the real estate business and has lived in Hampden since 1989.
When told that Hampden supported Trump in 2016 and then Biden in 2020, Sherwood said he was surprised.
“I thought this was clearly a red community,” he said.
So, is it changing then?
“I hope so,” he replied.
Sherwood said issues like the economy, which he says is improving, and immigration, which has been a problem for decades, concern him less.
“I’m more concerned that Donald Trump never gets back into the White House,” he said. “I don’t know how politicians can say something you know is absolutely false and 40 million people are shaking their heads yes. It’s so sad, isn’t it?”
Sherwood agreed with others that a polarized country had made it harder to live in equanimity with neighbors. Some friends of his were confronted recently after they put Harris/Walz signs on their lawn.
“I was a political science major, a hundred years ago, and I love to talk politics,” he said. “But you can’t talk politics anymore. You can’t sit around with friends because you’re so worried you’re going to say something.”
The tension Sherwood referred to lives just below the surface of this community. There has always been a split between the agrarians and Rotarians; the farmers and the professionals; the lifelong residents and the newcomers.
Taylor, the librarian, said the town’s social structure has changed to the point where the sense of connectedness has eroded. Politics has played a not insignificant role.
Wright, the independent legislative candidate, said that matches what she sees and hears, but she isn’t sure the situation is hopeless. She said although many people are fiercely partisan, when she tells residents that she’s running as an independent their demeanor relaxes almost instantly.
“There is more middle ground out there than is reported on daily,” she said. “People want what’s best for each other. If someone needs a hand, you aren’t going to ask if they are a Harris or Trump supporter.”
HAMPDEN AT A GLANCE:
County: Penobscot
Population: 7,709
2016 presidential election results: Trump (R) 48% to Clinton (D) 44%
2020 presidential election results: Biden (D) 50% to Trump (R) 46%
2022 gubernatorial election results: Mills (D) 50% to LePage (R) 47%
Registered voters: 5,619
Breakdown of voters: 2,138 Republicans (38%),1,687 Democrats (30%) and 1,498 unenrolled (27%)
Facts: Named after English patriot John Hampden. Birthplace of Dorothea Dix, a social and political activist who championed the rights of people with mental illness.
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