If there were ever a sign that Maine – and other blue states – are waking up, getting ready to throw off the oppressive yoke of Democrat intrusion, it was last week in Maine. Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk spoke – and to enthusiastic crowds.
In a hard-to-capture way, the event felt like common sense coming home. The hundreds listening probably already held his values, but to hear them coming from Kirk in Maine – to hear freedom, faith, and family boldly celebrated near where Democrat skullduggery, deception, denial, and darkness live was heartening.
To give credit where due, Maine Civic Action, a group “focused on educating Mainers on free markets and individual liberties,” pulled off this blockbuster event, introduced by conservative education activist Heidi Sampson and moderated by Steve Robinson, whose own anti-organized crime work with The Maine Wire and Tucker Carlson is nationally recognized and head-turning.
In essence, what Kirk drove home was the truth in common sense, and how America’s young conservatives – increasingly the courageous custodians of America’s common sense – are stepping up, leading, speaking as never before.
Much as AMAC created a renaissance in civic participation for older Americans, offering hope, action, and ways to preserve America’s core values for those over 50, Turning Point USA and Maine Civic Action are pioneering fresh appreciation for our nation’s core freedoms – why and how to protect them by being unafraid.
As Maine Civic Action noted, before the Charlie Kirk event, “The future of our state and nation depends on training the next generation to be active members of their communities and to advance liberty.” Freedom must be defended.
The welcoming venue, Dunegrass Golf Club, was made possible by a thoughtful advocate for change in Maine, punctuating the dynamism afoot in Maine. The same venue just saw a gubernatorial debate put on by Common Sense for Maine.
That group, like the others, is emblematic of a fresh wind blowing, how blue states awake when citizens care, conclude they have had enough, decide to step up, start envisioning a better future – not dominated by bad policy and poor leaders.
Common Sense for Maine is a “prominent Maine business people …who want real and substantial change in Maine’s government …” starting in 2026. They “believe in Maine and its people and have made a substantial commitment and investment in building Maine’s future.”
At the Kirk event were countless other civic-minded, policy-smart groups, like the Maine Policy Institute, Dirigo Public Affairs, and Pro-Growth Maine. All are fed up with failed Maine leadership in public safety, taxes, education, and energy costs.
Perhaps the most interesting fact: Young Maine people attended in large numbers, making clear that – just as America is seeing fresh conservatism, so is Maine.
A 2025 Yale poll shows “voters aged 18 to 21 lean Republican, by 11.7 points, when asked who they would support in the 2026 congressional elections,” suggesting a “conservative shift among Gen Z voters,” who helped elect Trump.
In Maine, while anti-Trump protests occasionally pop up – generally paid for by grasping Democrats – the river of “resist” is drying up. Those participating are more likely unemployed, retired, gray-topped 1960s hippies, nostalgic for Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, slowly waving signs from foldout chairs, not young.
Bottom line: No one worth their salt in Maine thinks Democrat leaders have done anything to help Maine get safer, more affordable, or less twisted up in political regulations, taxes, and nonsense. On the contrary, a groundswell is building.
Young people see that their futures – good jobs, affordable housing, basic rights – are hanging in the balance. They want what prior generations had, and all that starts with advancing conservative values. Hearing Charlie Kirk was exciting – the inspirational leader on trumpet, his generation the chorus, tune “Common Sense Comes Home.”
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Read full article here