Is Mai n e full retard Liberal/Socialist like the West Coast or just kinda Liberal depending where you are. I just bought a place in Central Maine on the recommendation of my inlaws. Did I royally screw up?

Its got its spots of them. Mostly southern coastal areas.

Im just north of Augusta and its fine here.  Most people mind their own business anyway, so you should be gtg.

Even when we go to TJs in portland being surrounded by libs they dont bother anything they just give that lib entitled vibe off LOL

No crazy commie laws here (yet). NFA GTG, Constitutional carry, no mag limits or any of that BS, auto knives legal. The further north you go, the more conservative is seems to get. No worries in Central Maine and up.

You're 100% fine in Central Maine as far as your neighbors. However the population density is highest in south western Maine (seacoast down south), and most of them are Mass transplants and vote accordingly. Geographically, the state is STRONGLY right leaning, but population-wise, we lean left, so I'm always a bit afraid of what laws are going to come down the pike and actually pass. That said, we have a really good track record the last few years as someone else mentioned. We got constitutional carry, auto knives came off the ban list, we've defeated several Bloomberg initiatives, etc. I'm still cautious, though.

Outside of the large cities, not very. The "large" cities have been totally fucking us for YEARS at the state level.

Tons of drug abuse problems and welfare riders also contribute to the blue politicians getting elected. But most people outside of the dense population centers and even many of them in those centers are red and most likely own guns.


We have virtually no gun laws on the books up here. No knife bans anymore and permit less carry.




I don't recommend anyone move here. It's a dying state that is extremely business unfriendly, we are taxed insanely high for how low the median income is, our roads are garbage, vehicles are lucky to last 10 years before being rusted to shit etc. Cost of living is pretty high here too. On top of all that, the current governor and state politicians are going enviro-nazi and even talking about banning any products sold here that contain the wrong plastics (which would be every industry. They are targeting auto makers first)

This article gives a good run down of how awful this state is financially -> https://www.themainewire.com/2023/02/maine-jobs-council-finds-maine-near-bottom-of-pretty-much-all-economic-rankings/

Only reason I haven't packed up and left yet is family and friends won't move because this is home.

This post pretty much sums it up. Maine is a solid blue state with a high cost of living and tax burden, and it will only get worse as time goes on. The weather here sucks as well, with about 2 weeks of summer. I would not recommend anyone move here either. I am packing up and leaving very soon, and while Maine is home I don't have any plans to return here.

Kinda depends on how you define "central Maine".

Some consider the Lewiston area to be central Maine, while others say Augusta to Waterville.  The geographic center is Dover-Foxcroft, no where near those other two areas.

Further south generally means more liberal, but the city-centric statement above is also true. As are the college towns like Orono, even though it is much further up.

Welcome aboard

You'll be fine. Where in central Maine?

Any part of maine beats Massachusetts.
The further you get from the southern coastline the better

Waterville. Will my 2018 pickup need to pass any type of inspection upon arrival. Smog, etc.

Not on arrival. Once you are a resident you have I think 6 months to register your vehicle with Maine plates.  Then there’s an annual vehicle inspection on a rolling 12 months.

So I guess a def delete and tune on my diesel is a no go.

Emissions are done on a county by county basis for some reason that evades me.

I'm in York county, we have no emissions testing.  

Waterville is in Kennebec county.

I don't know the requirements there but it should be fairly straight forwards to research.

I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one.

Nah, no emissions BS in Kennebec County. Waterville's right next door to Fairfield, which is Somerset County, definitely no issues there. I'd avoid stealerships and find a nice independent inspection station. As long as it's not rusted to hell, or loud/leaking exhaust, and the front end is tight, you ought to be all set. Oh, big lifts/tire may be a problem, depending on where you go.

I work for a dealership and we don't really care as long as it meets Maine's rules.

Funny enough our pricing for labor and oil changes are better in many cases compared to the smaller shops. Hate to say that since one of my bros is a tech at a small shop.

I'm from up in Aroostook County.

What's a Liberal?

I saw a number of FJB signs on lawns around Houlton during the last "election" cycle. Still, the Trump signs outnumbered them.

I think our gun laws will hold out longer than those in NH. They simply aren't really a priority to the lefties all that much here. Not to mention, many democrats here are not liberals or progressives, not by a long shot.  Most democrats over 30 belong to the party due to unions or family tradition. The southern areas and cities are very liberal however.

ETA-If you are considering buying land to retire on, Maine is better than NH in price, availability, and property tax. Taxes on woodlands in "tree growth status" are virtually nil, you really pay the tax on the developed area for your house. If you had one acre developed, the property tax difference in most rural municipalities between 1 acre lot and 20 acres with 1 developed acre would be measured in hundreds of dollars a year, not thousands.

I live in the southern part of the state in a coastal touristy area. York to be exact. Been here pretty much most of my 52 years. It has changed a lot over the last 15 years with the influx of people and money from Mass. I'm about 2 miles from the beach as the crow flies but I am on the west side of 95 which makes a huge difference.

This town is still loaded with people who's family roots run deep and most of them are by far and large extremely conservative. I still shoot guns in my backyard and my neighbors don't care at all. Sometimes they do too. The local police typically side with locals as well if there is any sort of complaint which is nice. If they show up, and you aren't doing anything wrong or breaking any laws they will typically tell the complaining party to grow thicker skin. It's only a matter of time before all of that changes but right now it's not terrible unless you roll thru the "high end" neighborhoods. I know a few people from Mass, too, who have moved to the area and you can't tell the aren't from around here. Some people have the right mentality they were just born in the wrong place. The biggest problem we have is that half of the state is on welfare so they vote for whoever is going to give them the best handouts. As far as gun laws as stated earlier most of our democrats are pro gun for many reasons. One being that a lot of them hunt and were raised around firearms. Another being that most of them seem to understand that supporting gun laws is political suicide. Most of the suggested laws have been buried before they even gain traction. The 3rd reason is that gun crimes statistically are fairly low and mostly of domestic in nature so the politicians have more important things to worry about. Like the drug influx from Lawrence, Mass.

It's easy to spot the liberals around here, funny thing is none of the locals really take any shit from them. I would move further north if the money was better but I get up there quite a bit. The last time I was in Shin Pond I felt like I was in Hartford, which was discouraging to see. Since covid became a thing, our state has been hammered with wannabe campers and outdoorspeople who have zero business being in the woods. It's sad because the influx of southern cash is changing our way of life. I wish the people coming up would just accept the lifestyle and blend in but that just isn't a reality anymore

I'm planning my move in late June- early July. My plan is to accept the lifestyle, blend in and mind my own business.

That's the spirit! Welcome. Perfect timing to enjoy the black flies and mosquitos. :-)

Fuck off we're full

Do you do any hunting or fishing OP?

I moved to Maine in 1988 from massachusetts.I wanted to live in a state where I could do what I want,where my vote had a better chance of actually meaning something rather than being entirely swamped by the self proclaimed enlightened and evolved leftwingers.
Maine isn't perfect but for me it is a big step in the right direction.

Nice thats just up the road from me lol.


No smog and I believe you have a few months to get a new license/registration/inspection etc.  


https://www.maine.gov/portal/residents/titles.html

I'm not a hunter but have nothing against it. Just never really interested. I fish a little but plan to fish a lot.

I was just wondering, Maine has awesome hunting and fishing.

I don’t fish but if you ever want to try grouse hunting I’ll be happy to go with you. It’s a blast.

I'll warn you ahead of time. If you don't do much outside season to season you are going to get bored up here real fast.

Doubly so for winter. During the winter if you aren't snowmobiling, skiing, snow shoeing, or ice fishing (or plowing overnights on the side for $$$) you are going to find yourself on the couch binge watching shows or playing video games for near on six months some winters.

Non-winter months are for hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, yard work, 4wheeling, motorcycling (unless you're a winter rider too), farming etc.

All too often lately we get carpet baggers that move up here and then ask "wut do I do around here" because they don't do anything outside.

I'll be retired so that will be fine with me.

Charmingmanger, that is some excellent and well laid out advice.

I may have to plagorize that as I fairly often have to explain to city / southern people what its like here.  Most only see the vacation ads and think that and interesting accents are what its all about here.

A short term trip here in no way prepares folks for living here.

Explaining mud season is hard to do for those who always live on pavement.  Not much in the way of common references.

People also don't understand the vehicle maintenance up here is more expensive because our roads are crap, the humidity and temperature fluctuation and all the salt beat the piss out of and degrade vehicles. Rust destroys everything up here unless you mercilessly keep it clean and undercoated every year.

Don't expect a vehicle you drive during the winter to last more than 10 or so years unless you keep it clean as possible. Rust is almost my number 1 reason for wanting to move.


One thing about Maine that is neat is there are a lot of cool places to see like the abandoned trains out in the woods and little museums and such. I'm born and raised here and there's still tons of places I haven't been or explored.

I'm also from Washington and now in central Maine as of last year. Compared to western Washington there ain't a liberal in sight. But I'd say it's more libertarian here than conservative.

That reminds me, I gotta get out there and go grouse hunting this year. I see 'em fairly regularly around my property, but haven't actually gone out looking for them yet.

OP, Waterville isn't bad compared to some places. I'd prefer it over LA, Augusta, Bangor, and Portland any day. It may be one of the more dangerous towns in Maine according to whatever metrics people use, but it's nothing compared to pretty much literally anywhere else.

I probably wouldn't roam around the South End on foot alone at night, but if you're going to reasonable places, during reasonable times of the day, there's absolutely no problem.

Waterville...

Ehhh.


You're at least 2.5 hours too low.




At least you'll be close to Big G's sandwich shop and A&G Shooting Supply.  

Waterville's not bad, though I'm sure it will get there, the diversity has slowly increased over the years. Definitely recommend A&G in Fairfield and Big G's. Korner store in Oakland for the best pizza.

I hope to be able to move up to our property in The County when I retire. Heading up in a couple of weeks, looking forward to some Shiretown BBQ.