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Friedman said he supported the Democrats’ plan, dubbed the “Vassalboro-Gardiner plan,” which shifts the Kennebec County communities of Gardiner, Vassalboro, Vienna, Rome, Oakland, Wayne and Unity Township in order to achieve the population deviation of one. The plan would affect nearly 20,000 voters but splits only Kennebec County, which already is divided between the 1st and 2nd Districts. Both plans were constitutionally sound, Friedman said, but in his opinion, less movement was better.

Rather than being a center of political power and, increasingly, a crucial swing vote in the 2nd District, Lewiston/Auburn would become just another Democratic area in the 1st. Since the beginning of the current era of competitive politics in Maine in the 1950s, Mainers of French heritage and especially those living in the Twin Cities have closely guarded their political influence, seeing it as a bulwark against disrespect and discrimination.