It’s Unorganized Territory, the podcast where Maine voters have their say on the 2026 election and America’s political moment. I’m Jay Field. It’s Thursday April 9th.

I met Wayne Farrin one afternoon as he was finishing up lunch with real estate colleagues at the Jefferson Market and General Store.

As we chatted about the election, I quickly learned that Wayne has two other jobs besides being a realtor.

He’s also the elected representative for Jefferson and surrounding towns in the state legislature and owns and runs the general store.

It’s been more than a month of war with Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

High gas prices that drag on are the equivalent of political kryptonite.

They mess with family budgets and can cause voters to spend less and punish incumbents at the polls.

Unorganized Territory hit the 2026 State of Maine Sportsman’s Show at the Augusta Civic Center to informally sample the level of concern within one part of Maine’s nearly $10 billion tourism economy.

Show Notes

Today's music:

Sumner McKane Group - Nanook - the ogjuck/victorious hunting theme

Sumner McKane - In The Blood Film Score - The Spring Drive

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One morning, earlier this week, I paid a visit to the state capitol in Augusta.

A one-day, mobile museum featuring original artifacts from American history was set up in the Hall of Flags, under the Capitol Dome, in honor the nation’s 250th birthday.

A crowd was just starting to gather, as I introduced myself to a man standing near the exhibit table in a dark sweatshirt and ball cap, a 64-year-old pastor from Fryeberg named Eric Ness.

Show Notes

Music on today's episode:

Sumner McKane Group – Nanook – the ogjuck victorious hunting theme

Sumner McKane – In The Blood Film Score – Creative Ingenuity

Diane Langworthy has lived in Aroostook County almost continuously since the early 1980s.

She’s retired now, after a long career as a pastor with the United Church of Christ, where she served parishes in Houlton and Fort Fairfield.

As she looks to November, Diane has questions.

Will high food prices make it more difficult to afford the large family meals she loves to cook for her sixteen grandchildren—many of whom live nearby and have defied the County’s persistent outmigration trend?

Will she and her husband have the health care they need nearby, as they age?

Or will they need to move away, as some friends already have?

Show Notes

Today's episode includes music selections from the following:

Sumner McKane Group – Nanook – the ogjuck victorious hunting theme

Sumner McKane – In The Blood Film Score – Who Were They

We all have that friend, right?

When the subject turns to politics, elections and the state of the world, they go there.

This is the person who says out loud the stuff everyone around them is thinking, but not saying.

This is Jason Ward.

Jason went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy. He served as a naval engineering officer on a guided missile cruiser in the Persian Gulf and was the ship’s judge advocate general or JAG. After leaving the Navy, Jason moved to the private sector, climbed the ladder in executive recruiting, and now runs his own headhunting business. I met Jason late one afternoon, in an empty conference room at the Cushing Town Office, a few days after Alex Pretti was killed by border patrol agents in Minneapolis.

Music on today's show:

Sumner McKane Group - Nanook - the ojuck victorious hunting theme

Sumner McKane - In The Blood Film Score - The Reputation

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Joanne Mason follows Maine politics and elections closely. She’s chair of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee. Joanne lives in Readfield with her husband, Ken, the county’s elected sheriff. Readfield, like so many Maine communities, is narrowly divided politically. In 2024, its residents cast 900 votes for Kamala Harris and 875 votes for Donald Trump. You never know where a conversation will lead once you hit record. Forty minutes into our chat, Joanne shared a family story on the far-reaching, traumatic impact of recent ICE raids across the country. Before we got there, she touched on issues resonating in 2026, how she sizes up candidates, the volatile political climate in recent years and the more forgiving, collegial style of politics she experienced growing up in Augusta and raising her own family in Readfield.

Show Notes

Music on today's show:

Sumner McKane Group - Nanook - the ojuck victorious hunting theme

Sumner McKane - The Music Frontier Film Soundtrack - Big Sky

Sumner McKane with Joshua Robbins - Two If By Sea - No Land, Lights or Birds

Sumner McKane - Speedway Maine Soundtrack - Old Orchard

Sumner McKane and Joshua Robbins - Two If By Sea - She Rests At 60 Fathoms

Follow, subscribe, support:

Follow, subscribe and support Unorganized Territory on Substack.

Unorganized Territory tells the story of the 2026 election in Maine, and our American political moment, through the voices of voters in the towns, villages and small municipalities at the heart of community life in the nation’s most rural state. Listen beginning March 10th on Substack, Apple, Spotify and other major podcast platforms.