Demonstrators, led by the Maine Coalition for Palestine, protest at a General Dynamics factory in Saco, Maine on Jan. 3, 2024. (courtesy of Schaible, Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights)
By August, Surry resident Diana Merenda thought, maybe, she just wouldn’t cast a vote in the race for Maine’s 2nd District. She’d been waiting to see if U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, would retract his support of Israel amid its ongoing deadly offensive on Gaza, which she called genocide.
“But I can’t not vote,” Merenda said, so she decided to be the alternative she sought.
Merenda is one of 18 declared write-in candidates across local, state and federal races, who filed with the Maine Secretary of State by the Aug. 27 deadline.
Diana Merenda, who is running as a write-in candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. (Courtesy photo)
Merenda will not appear on Maine’s ballot alongside Golden and his Republican challenger, Austin Theriault, nor will the other declared write-ins for other races. The list of declared write-ins for any race in a given voting district is posted with sample ballots and other required posters at polling places.
“I have absolutely no illusions of winning this race,” Merenda said. However, she hopes her candidacy can give people a chance to reflect on what their vote means.
“I don’t believe that people are truly making the equation of money and murder,” Merenda said, of the United States’ ongoing military support for Israel despite over 42,000 Palestinians killed in the past year according to local health authorities. “If they could just at least consider that that is certainly how at least some people in the world think… I would like to believe that I’m giving people an opportunity to pause, so they can understand their cause.”
Golden and Theriault reiterated their stances on U.S. foreign policy during a debate on Oct. 7, exactly one year since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, murdering more than 1,000 civilians, taking hundreds prisoner and igniting an all-but-declared regional war and a deadly Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that the U.S. has failed to halt despite months of ceasefire negotiations.
“I’m absolutely supportive of what we’ve done, the United States, in response to what happened a year ago,” Golden said, highlighting his U.S. military service in Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Golden also said he’s supported every package considered in Congress to aid Israel’s military.
Theriault similarly said during the debate that he thinks Israel has the right to defend itself and that he would support providing aid to Israel. “I’m glad that there is action being taken by Israel right now to go and address the root of the problem,” Theriault said.
Born in New York, Merenda moved to Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic out of caution because she is immune compromised but also because she sought a more affordable place to live with her husband. Now retired, she spent decades working in financial services support and eight years serving in local government, including as mayor of the Village of Plandome Heights in New York.
Merenda had previously been a Democrat and had voted for Golden during his last campaign. However, she said the party’s silence on Israel’s actions was her breaking point.
Merenda said she would have considered running as an official candidate to appear on the ballot, which unlike being a write-in would have required her to collect signatures and file for candidacy earlier. But, she said, “I just honestly, I never thought that the United States would be this blatantly complicit with Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Merenda described both the Republican and Democratic parties as “bankrupt of morality.” She is concerned about the parties’ reliance on “dark money,” meaning money to influence elections where the source is not disclosed to the public. Given this, she said she hopes Mainers will vote to pass Question 1 on Nov. 5, a citizen referendum that Golden has endorsed.
The referendum seeks to limit contributions in Maine to independent political action committees, otherwise known as super PACs. The ultimate goal, however, is to get the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that PACs should be regulated.
Related to Merenda’s frustration with the U.S. response to the war in Gaza, Merenda also wants the country to decrease its military budget to instead use the funds for issues such as affordable housing, education, healthcare and climate solutions.
Voters’ abilities to cast ballots for Merenda and declared write-ins for state and local races depend on place of residence, but the following declared write-in candidates for president and vice president are alternative options for all voters:
Shiva Ayyadurai and Crystal Ellis (independent)
Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia (Party for Socialism & Liberation)
Robert Dyer and Daniel Whitten (Defenders of America Party)
Peter Sonski and Lauren Onak (American Solidarity Party)
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