Located in Cumberland County, Gorham, Maine (04038) is a small town with a population of 17,845 as reported by the 2010 census. The political scene in Gorham is based on a selectboard-town manager form of government. This system of governance was adopted by Gorham in 1971 and consists of five elected members who serve on the selectboard and one full-time paid Town Manager. The board is responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the town, appointing committees and commissions, and ensuring that all laws passed by state and local authorities are adhered to. Additionally, there are also 11 specific positions within the government structure such as the Town Clerk and Tax Assessor. Each position has an individual appointed to it for a specified period of time. In terms of elections, residents go to the polls every November to vote on candidates for selectboard positions. Candidates must be registered voters at least 18 years old and reside within Gorham’s boundaries in order to qualify as an official candidate for office.
The political climate in Zip 04038 (Gorham, ME) is moderately liberal.
Cumberland County, ME is very liberal. In Cumberland County, ME 66.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cumberland county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 66.5% to 30.8%.
Cumberland county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 04038 (Gorham, ME) is moderately liberal.
Gorham, Maine is moderately liberal.
Cumberland County, Maine is very liberal.
Portland-South Portland Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Maine is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Gorham, Maine: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 04038 (Gorham)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 697 contributions totaling $62,251 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $89 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 196 contributions totaling $25,173 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $128 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)